Power of the Gods
by The Chuckinator
Summary: It was just another day for Sonic. After defeating Eggman, he reveals to Tails that he is of Roman decent. Later, he is captured by Eggman and turned into a god. Now Sonic is determined to find the Chaos Emeralds, along with some mythical items, and bring the end to the world. Will his friends stop him before he succeeds, or will darkness reign forever?
1. Sonic's Heritage

Power of the Gods

by ThaRebelHunter and The Chuckinator

Chapter 1: Sonic's Heritage

Sonic was walking home from another beating with Doctor Eggman. The mad scientist had been plotting something, and Sonic, of course, stopped him. Once he got back, Tails saw him and smiled.

"Hey Sonic, how was beating Egghead?" Tails asked. He didn't have to ask Sonic if he'd won anymore. It was pretty much routine.

"Yeah. it's like my job or something."

"Except you do it for free," Tails snickered.

Sonic chuckled. "Right answer," he said. "Now, where are the chili dogs? I'm starving." He walked into the kitchen, opened the fridge, grabbed some food and began to eat.

Tails rolled his eyes. Sonic always wanted chili dogs after every battle with Eggman. Smiling to himself, Tails walked into his lab to work on fixing the Tornado. It had snapped a wing off the other day. Nothing Tails couldn't fix. A few minutes later, Sonic came down to the lab. "What are you working on?"

"Oh, just the plane and a new invention I'm working on. It can make people into giants. Ya know, in case Eggman decides to make a really big robot and we don't have time to get the Chaos Emeralds."

Sonic's eyes widened. "That's cool," he said. "Can it transform them into animals as well?"

Tails nodded. "It's still a work in progress so I won't be able to test it right now." Tails said, turning back to his machine.

The blue hedgehog chuckled and turned away. Then he walked upstairs and into his room, taking out a pendant. It was a symbol of Rome. He hadn't told his friends this, but Sonic was of Roman descent. He smiled, put the pendant around his neck, and walked downstairs.

Tails finished his invention and walked inside. He guessed Sonic was in his room, so he decided to watch the news, to see if there was anything interesting. A reporter popped up on screen. "As you can see, Dr. Eggman and Sonic the Hedgehog had another battle today." The reporter was saying. "However, it looks like Dr. Eggman isn't finished, as he is rampaging through the city with another robot."

Tails smacked his head against his forehead. Didn't Eggman ever stop? "Sonic! Get out here! You might want to see this!" Tails yelled.

Sonic ran into the room with the pendant around his neck. "What is it, Tails?" he asked.

"Eggman," Tails said, pointing at the TV. It was at that point, that he noticed the pendant. "Sonic..." Tails said slowly. "What is that around your neck?"

"This?" Sonic asked, touching the pendant. He smiled. "It's an heirloom of my bloodline."

Tails was confused. Sonic had a bloodline? From where? "Uhhh...what bloodline? What symbol is that?" Tails asked.

"Io sono di Roma, Italia," Sonic said in Italian, with a perfect Italian accent. Tails stared blankly at him, not understanding a word Sonic had said. Sonic chuckled and dropped his American accent, speaking with an Italian one. "I just said, 'I'm from Rome, Italy'."

Tails didn't know what to make of that. Sonic never showed the slightest hint that he was Italian. "If you're Italian, why did you never let us know that?" Tails asked.

"You never asked, and I didn't really know what to say about my heritage."

"I see your point. I just can't believe my best friend is of Roman descent. Anyway, you might want to put that thing back in your room. Eggman is tearing up the town as we speak."

Sonic chuckled. "Sì, certamente," he said. "Yes, of course."

Tails smiled; it was cool that Sonic spoke Italian. He hesitated, and asked him about it. "Hey, since you speak Italian, were you born in Rome? Or are you just of Roman decent and learned how to speak it?"

"I was born in Roma," Sonic said, smiling.

Tails had to admit, his Italian accent was pretty cool. "Cool! Your accent is awesome! I think it's really cool you're from Rome," Tails exclaimed.

Sonic laughed. He loved seeing Tails excited like this. "Grazie. Thank you."

"Right. Now Eggman," Tails said, as Sonic put the pendant back in his room. "He's moved to the center of the city, near City Hall."

"I'll get right on it," Sonic said, and ran out the door. He didn't notice that his pendant began to glow. Meanwhile, Eggman was rampaging around the city with the Death Egg Robot. As he chased a few people around, Sonic ran up to meet him.

"Still up to no good, eh, Egghead?" he asked, still speaking in his Italian accent.

"What the...what's with the accent?" Eggman asked, looking in confusion at his arch enemy.

Sonic chuckled and shook his head. "I've always had an Italian accent; I just don't use it much. I'm from Rome. Now, nemico acerrimo...arch enemy...shall we get started?"

He smirked and got into a battle stance.

Eggman sat there, staring at Sonic for a few seconds, then snapped out of his trance. He got the Death Egg into a fighting stance as well.

"Your move," Eggman sneered.

The Italian nodded and lunged, punching his fist at the robot. He curled into a ball and did a spin dash, along with a homing attack, hitting the robot with such force that it started to malfunction.

Eggman smashed his hand on a yellow button. Rockets launched out of the back and sped towards Sonic. Sonic smirked and jumped in the air, then landed behind the robot. Eggman's eyes widened as the missiles collided with the robot, causing a massive explosion. Sonic looked at him.

"Can't win every time, can you?" Sonic asked. Eggman glared at the Roman.

"It would appear that way" Eggman said, a grin forming on his face. "But this is one of those times!" he exclaimed, as Metal Sonic jumped behind Sonic and grabbed him.

"Che cosa!" Sonic said in Italian. "What!"

Eggman's eyes widened; he didn't know Sonic spoke Italian. "You should have known something was up when I decided to attack the city twice in one day." Eggman said, shaking off his surprise. "But you can never resist the temptation to fight me. Now you're mine!" Eggman laughed, and they started to head back to his base, bringing a struggling Sonic with him.


	2. Rise of a God

Chapter 2: Rise of a God

Back at the house, Tails was worried about Sonic. It wasn't like him to take this long. Sighing, he walked upstairs to Sonic's room. His eyes widened in shock when he saw the pendant glowing.

"What the heck?" he said, picking it up. What did this mean? Was it trying to warn him something? And what was taking Sonic so long? His eyes widened in shock as the glow vanished. Tails frowned, and called some of his friends including Shadow. "Hey guys, can you get over here quickly. It's about Sonic," Tails said. He knew his friends would rush over the moment Sonic was mentioned. Soon, he heard the doorbell ring and opened it up to see Knuckles, Shadow, Blaze and Silver.

"What is it?" Silver asked.

Tails held up the Roman pendant. "This belonged to Sonic. A minute ago it was glowing. Now it's like this," Tails said as everyone walked in.

"So what; it's just a dumb pendant," Shadow said. Tails glared at him.

"How about I start from the beginning. Then maybe you'll understand," Tails said, and explained everything about Sonic's Roman decent. When he finished, everyone's mouth were wide open.

"Sonic's a Roman?" Silver asked.

Tails nodded, and told them that Sonic could speak Italian also.

"I knew there was something weird about that faker," Shadow said.

Tails rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I think this might be a sign that he's in trouble or something." Tails said.

They all nodded.

"Eggman probably has him," Blaze said. "Let's hurry there."

Back at Eggman's lab, Sonic was strapped to a table by Metal Sonic. Eggman was flipping switches, and Sonic heard something starting up.

"Bastardo!" Sonic said in Italian. "Pagherete per questo!"

Eggman had Metal Sonic translate what Sonic said. "Bastard, you'll pay for this."

The mad scientist laughed. "Oh my dear Sonic, I highly doubt that," Eggman said.

Sonic glared at him angrily. "What do you plan to do to me?"

"So many things Sonic, starting with changing you." Eggman said, pointing the end of a laser at Sonic. "I've done some research, and I decided what other ways are there to conquer the world? Why, by having a GOD help me do it!"

Sonic's eyes widened in fear. "No, non è possibile! Gli dèi non si adiri contro di te!"

Metal Sonic looked at Eggman. "He said, 'no, you can't! The gods will be angry at you'."

Eggman rolled his eyes. "Did you forget you could speak English? Or are you just speaking that way to irritate me? Never mind, let's begin." Eggman said, hitting a button.

"No, you don't understand!" Sonic said as the laser warmed up. "I am descended from a line of Roman priests that protect the gods' secrets! If you do this, you'll incur the Roman gods' wrath!"

Eggman laughed at this. "Yeah? Well, what will they do when I'm the one controlling that wrath?" he said, as the laser fired and struck Sonic in the chest. Sonic screamed in pain and transformed into a giant black dragon. "Hello Mars," Eggman said, laughing. The dragon growled at him. "We have a lot of work to do," Eggman said. At this point, the dragon which was Sonic/Mars roared, picked up Eggman and swallowed him whole.

"Non tempero mihi," it said telepathically in Latin. "You can't control me. Now, the destruction of the Earth begins."

As Tails and the others ran to Eggman's lag, they saw a huge explosion, and something black fly out of it.

"What was that?" Silver asked. Their eyes widened as they saw a dragon.

What is the doctor doing now, Shadow wondered. "Let's go!" he said, running ahead of everyone.

The others followed him but were blocked by the dragon.

"Who are you?" Silver asked.

The dragon growled and said something that none of them understood.

"Was that Italian?" Tails said, looking at the dragon, thinking he recognized the dragon.

The others looked at it. "You mortals will all burn," it said, and then spoke in Latin.

Before the others could do anything, the dragon opened its mouth and shot fire at them. Silver sprang into action, stopping the fire with his telekinesis. Shadow jumped up and shot a Chaos Spear, which bounced off the dragon's scales.

"Who are you?" Silver asked again.

"I am Mars, the Roman god of war," it told them. "I am here to burn this world and usher in the Apocalypse."

Tails eyes widened. "Why? Why could you possibly want to end the world?"

The dragon laughed. "It is my duty as a god."

"Duty!" Shadow shouted, firing more Chaos Spears at the dragon. "What duty? What did we ever do to piss off the gods?"

"It is not what you did, but what Eggman did. Sonic warned him what would happen if he transformed the Roman priest into me."

They blinked, shocked that Mars had referred to Sonic as a Roman priest.

"Sonic...a Roman Priest? Wait, that's why you seem similar. Because you were Sonic!" Tails exclaimed. The dragon growled and nodded. "Sonic...listen we can get you back to normal, just give us a day or-" Tails said, but the dragon cut him off.

"You mortals are so ignorant!" It roared. "My duty as a god has begun now. It is time for the gods to rule."

The dragon god let out a roar, and everything started to change. Tails and the others screamed as they felt a sensation in their bodies and fell unconscious. When they woke up, they were in Ancient Rome.


	3. Ancient Rome

Chapter 3: Ancient Rome

"What the heck? Where are we?" Shadow said, looking around. Everyone was rubbing their heads, and Knuckles was the first to speak.

"Mars must have transported us back to Ancient Rome," Knuckles said, but then stopped and looked at Blaze, whose eyes widened.

"We're speaking in Latin!" She exclaimed.

"Quid infernum? (What the hell?)" Shadow said.

Tails was trying to figure out what was happening. "Why would Sonic...or Mars...whatever, transport us to Ancient Rome?" he asked. Everyone thought it over.

"Maybe he wants us out of the way," Silver said. He then noticed that they were wearing Ancient Roman clothing.

"Okay this is getting creepy," Shadow said, looking down at his toga. "We need to get back. Dang, I wish we had the Chaos Emeralds. They could help us get back."

The others looked around. "Well, you know the saying," Silver said. "When in Rome, do what the Romans do."

Suddenly, a loud roar could be heard an they saw a black dragon fly overhead, flapping its wings. "So what was that thing about us being out of the way?" Tails said to Silver. Knuckles smacked his fist into his palm.

The dragon landed and laughed. "I have transported you back in time here," it told them. "You can never go back to the present. Now, you shall witness me destroy this pathetic city, along with the world!"

Everyone didn't think, they just jumped at the dragon. Tails and Knuckles beat at the dragon's legs. Shadow shot Chaos Spears at its head. Silver used his telekinesis to lift Blaze into the air, while she threw fire at the dragon's body. Mars laughed. None of the attacks injured it.

"Crap; nothing is working," Tails yelled.

"Nothing can," Mars said.

"Fall back, fall back!" Shadow shouted. Knuckles started to protest, but with a glare from Shadow, he ran away with the others, leaving the laughing dragon behind.

"Nam hoc scis (Well this sucks)," Tails said, scratching his head.

They looked around and went into the city. If they were going to live here they needed a place to stay. And also a plan to defeat the god.

"Is it scary that I can understand what is written on these signs?" Tails asked, as they passed a sign that said Cibum (Food).

"We all can," Silver said. "It makes since because we're speaking Latin."

"Yeah it's kind of irritating," Knuckles said. "It sounds like a bunch of sounds that I can understand coming out of my mouth."

Tails rolled his eyes. "Don't be stupid Knuckles," he said.

"We should find a place to live," Blaze said. "And find a way to defeat Mars."

"Didn't he say that Sonic is a Roman Priest?" Silver asked.

"Yeah but it's not like Sonic is 1300 years old. I'm pretty sure he was just descended from Roman Priests," Tails said. "Why, do you want to go looking for some?"

"Sure."

"Uhh...why?" Tails asked. Silver looked at Tails like he was stupid.

"Because they could have information on Mars. He is worshipped as a god."

"Fair enough," Tails said. "Do you know where to go? You've must of done a lot of time travelling cause I don't know where to find ancient priest. Did they have churches in Ancient Rome?

Silver shook his head. "They have shrines for the different gods and goddesses. We need to find the Shrine of Mars."

"Umm, would that be it?" Knuckles said, pointing to something in the distance. It was a tall stone structure, with a couple people surrounding it.

Silver nodded and walked towards the structure. He walked inside and looked around, as did the others.

Suddenly, Shadow froze. "Guys, I'm not hallucinating, you guys are seeing the same thing I am?" Shadow said, slowly.

Knuckles looked at him. "What do mean Shads?" he asked. Shadow didn't say anything, he just pointed at one of the priests.

The priest was bowing in front of a statue. He was saying prayers to Mars and stood up. When he lowered his hood and turned around, everyone gasped.

It was Sonic.


	4. Celeritas

Chapter 4: Celeritas

"There's...there's no way. How in the world...what?!" Tails stammered, as the priest saw them and walked over.

"Salve," the priest said. "Tu ques es?" (Hello, who are you.)

"Umm, uhh, umm, daa, umm," Tails couldn't form the right words, so Shadow jumped.

"Hello, my name is Umbra, this is Caudus," Shadow said, pointing at Tails. "And these are Articulos, Argentum and Flamma," he said, pointing at Knuckles, Silver and Blaze respectively.

The priest nodded. "I am Celeritas."

Umbra nodded.

"We were wondering if we could ask you some questions about Mars, the God of War," Caudus said.

Celeritas gave him a weird look. "Of course. What is it you wish to know?"

"Why exactly do you worship Mars?" Umbra asked.

"He is the guardian of the Roman people, and took part in the founding of Rome."

"What would you do if Mars were to...I don't know, show up in front of you right now?" Articulos asked. Umbra hit his arm as Celeritas gave him a puzzled look.

"I would be honored to be in his presence," the priest said. "We are having a festival in his honor in a few days, at the beginning of March. Why do you ask?"

"No reasons." Articulos said quickly.

"Hey what exactly do you do?" Caudus asked.

"I usually give blessings for the people who come here and am in charge of performing the rituals to appease the gods."

"You would hope that he could appease Mars," Articulos muttered, and Caudus elbowed him in the ribs.

"Thank you for the information. We'll see you around." Caudus said, and they all walked away.

Celeritas nodded and they left.

"What was that for, Articulos?" Flamma asked.

"What? Can't a guy ask a few questions?" he retorted.

"What you can do is shut your yap" Umbra snarled. "If he had heard you, we would be the ones answering questions! This is 8th century. How would people react if we told them that a scientist from the future brought one of their gods to this world, and that god brought four other people with him, just to watch him end the world? Tell me" Articulos looked stunned.

"Umbra is right," Argentum said. "We can't ask those kinds of questions; people will get suspicious. Now come on, let's find a place to live."

The others agreed. They continued to search throughout the day. Looking everywhere they could.

"Since when is Ancient Rome so packed?" Caudus said, frustrated.

Argentum shrugged. Eventually, they came to a row of empty houses.

"So are we sleeping in the same house, or do we each get our own?" Caudus asked the others.

"We'll get our own," Flamma said.

They nodded. A few hours later, they had all bought their own houses. As Caudus walked around his house, he thought back to Celeritas. If he was alive for this long, why did he act like a teenager, even look like one. He seemed so formal, compared to the hedgehog he knew. Would Celeritas believe him if they told him they were his friends from the future? He didn't notice Argentum walk in.

"Thinking about Celeritas?" He asked.

"Yeah, do you think that was Sonic or his ancestor?" Caudus asked.

"I don't know. It looked exactly like Sonic."

"I get that. But there's got to be a way to find out if it's Sonic or just one of his ancestors"1

Argentum nodded. "How can we do that?"

Caudus thought about it for a second. "It would help if chili dogs existed in this time. Sonic would swallow them whole. But there's one thing Sonic is super proud of. His speed. If there was a way to convince Celeritas to go for a run, than I know what to do next. Want to go try?"

"Sure; we can do that."

Caudus and Flamma went out to look for Celeritas, while the others were busy out doing their own thing. It wasn't that hard to find him. He was praying in the Shrine of Jupiter when they caught up with him.

"Hey, Celeritas" Caudus called.

"Caudus," the priest said. "Come with more questions?"

"Nah, we were wondering if you wanted to go for a run just for fun."

Celeritas stared at him. "Um...I'm pretty busy at the moment. I do love to run a lot and am pretty fast but that's only when I have free time. "

Caudus smirked. Sounded like Sonic. But only one way to find out. "Well, okay, come by my house when you're ready, but there's no way you will beat me at a race" Caudus said.

"Is that so?" Celeritas said. "There's no way you can beat me. I suppose I can take a break now."

Caudus looked at Flamma, his smiling widening and his eyebrows raised. Flamma was gaping at Celeritas. There was no doubt about it now.

Celeritas WAS Sonic.


	5. The Seven Hills of Rome

Chapter 5: The Seven Hills of Rome

They walked into their houses and saw Umbra.

"Where the heck have you two been?" he asked, then froze when he saw Celeritas with them.

"We were talking to Celeritas."

"Okay...why? I thought we learned all we needed about Mars?"

"He challenged me to a race and I had to accept," the priest said.

Umbra looked at the smiling fox, understood and said, "Of course you couldn't."

Celeritas nodded. "Well? Shall we get started?"

"We shall," Caudus said, and they got ready to race.

Umbra counted them off "3, 2, 1, GO!" Celeritas zoomed off while Caudus didn't even start.

"Why aren't you going? Umbra asked.

"I have all the proof I need. That is definitely Sonic," he said.

The priest was back in seconds. "That was fun," he said. "I should get back to the shrine now. See you later."

He walked off. Umbra and Caudus looked at each other. "So, what now? The festival is in a couple of days. You think Mars will show up then?" Caudus asked Umbra.

"Most likely. We should go, maybe to stop all the priests from rushing up and praising him and then get fried," he replied.

Caudus nodded. "I'm just wondering...how is Sonic here?"

"Probably because...actually I have no idea. I would say Chaos Emeralds, but they give him a power boost not make him immortal...I'm not sure" Umbra said. "Anyway, we should wait for the festival and hope Mars doesn't mess it up."

"We should. Any ideas on what we can do?"

"Figure out how to stop him. There's got to be something...wait don't you have a machine of some sort? If I can find a couple Chaos Emeralds, we could bring it here"

"That will work. Where can we find the emeralds?"

"No idea. We just got here. But if they are as old as Articulos has said, they should be around the city...wait, what if they're on the Seven Hills of Rome?!"

Caudus nodded. "Well crap, that thing is big! This will take a while. We don't have a while!" he exclaimed, punching the wall.

Umbra thought about it. They had to get the emeralds somehow.

"We could climb up there," Flamma said.

Both Umbra and Caudus jumped; they hadn't seen her come in.

"Have you seen it? This is the 8th century. They don't have...whatever the stuff people climb mountains with is called," Umbra said.

Flamma looked at him funny. "Well what do you suggest?"

"I don't know, I guess we'll have to try to do it by hand, but it will be hard. It would be better if we had...what were those things that go on your hands when it's cold. Golves?"

Caudus laughed. "Gloves, man. What is wrong with you?"

Umbra scratched his head. "I don't know. It's just that I'm starting to forget stuff from our timeline. Is that happening with you guys?"

"It seems that we are getting more used to this time and are beginning to think we've lived here our whole life," Articulos said. "Is that why you gave us these names?"

Umbra nodded. "Well this is creepy. We got to get back before he completely forget about our timeline, and Sonic. Pretty soon we'll be worshiping Mars and not fight him," he said.

"We can't go back," Flamma said.

"What?! Why not?" Caudus asked, looking at Flamma stunned.

"Mars used his magic to alter the energies in our bodies so we're stuck here forever. Don't you feel it? I do."

"So do I," Articulos said.

"Also here," Umbra said.

"Well crap, this is a problem. We better hurry up to get those Chaos Emeralds," Caudus said.

The Romans nodded and hurried to the Seven Hills of Rome. When they arrived, they looked as high as they could and still couldn't see the top.

"So I'm assuming the Chaos Emeralds will be all over the mountain. We only need two. I say we stick together. Any objections?" Umbra asked.

The others shook their heads.

"Good, now let's start climbing before Celeritas comes up behind us and...GAAAAAAH!" he yelled, as Celeritas sped up in front of them, smirking.

"Salve," he said. "What are you doing?"

Caudus started stuttering again. "Umm, uhh, umm, daa, umm, uhh, we were...we were..."

This time Articulos cut in. "We just wanted to climb the mountain."

"Why?" The priest asked. "It is the sacred home of the gods. No mortal is allowed to be there."

"Oh I don't know. Who doesn't love an adventure...you do love adventures don't you?" Articulos said slyly. Celeritas nodded. "Then why don't you join us?" Articulos said, despite everyone shaking their heads at him.

The priest hesitated. "Sure," he said.

As they started to climb, Umbra hissed at Articulos, "Did the back in time also make an idiot or are you just trying to get us in trouble?"

Articulos smiled at him. "If he sees the Chaos Emeralds most likely he'll think they're from the gods."

"Okay but what if Mars comes by and talks to us and see's him? Don't you think he'll have something fun to say like "Hey look it's me! They didn't bother to mention that huh?" Then we'll a million questions to answer."

Argentum looked at them. "I doubt he will. We don't even know where he is anyway."

The other Romans nodded, and continued to speak amongst each other in Latin.


	6. The God of War

Chapter 6: The God of War

Suddenly, Caudus said sharply, "Auditisne? (Did you hear that?)"

The others looked around, straining their ears.

"Et quid est hoc? (No, what is that?)" Argentum asked.

"There was a noise, I heard a roar. You guys didn't hear that?" Caudus asked, looking around.

The other shook their heads, and they continued up the hill. Umbra saw something glowing and his eyes widened.

"Ibi sunt, et Chaos et smaragdo! (There they are, the Chaos Emeralds!)" Flamme exclaimed.

Umbra climbed up and grabbed the blue and green Chaos Emeralds. "Quod duo. Ad quinque (That's two. Five to go.)" he said

"Didn't you say we only needed two?" Argentum asked.

Caudus nodded. "It will allow us to retrieve the machine...wait, I'm trying to speak...that English language we were speaking but I can't. I've forgotten everything about it. Non est bunom (This isn't good)."

The Romans frowned, continuing to speak in Latin. Celeritas walked up to the Chaos Emeralds, looking at them. "Amazing," he said. "They must be a gift from the gods."

"Yes, that must be it," Articulos said quickly. "Anyway I think we should get off of here and-" but Caudus cut him off.

"Okay, seriously, where is that coming from?" he exclaimed, looking around again.

"Quid dicis? (What are you talking about?)" Celeritas asked, straining his ears as well.

"Okay, don't take this the wrong way, but I swear to Zeus I heard a roar," Caudus said.

Celeritas looked at him in shock. The priest closed his eyes. Then he heard it too. The others did as well, and it was getting closer. Suddenly, Mars came flying over the mountain, and roaring so loudly, that everyone cringed, unable to cover their ears.

"Let the praising begin," Articulos muttered. Celieritas' eyes widened and he bowed to the god. The dragon growled and landed in front of him and the other people. "Told you," Articulos said, as Umbra grabbed Celeritas.

"Look, pal, I know you love your god but this is not the time!" he said, dragging Celeritas away from the dragon.

The priest began to protest but looked up as Mars began to speak. "Listen to me, mortals," he roared. "The world ends today! You have angered the gods, and therefore shall pay!"

"So, want to bow to him now?" Umbra asked a shocked Celeritas.

"Mars...all of the people of Rome are your sons...why are you doing this?" The priest asked.

"Because your new found friends know someone who have made the gods very angry! You can ask them for details. But right now, I need those Chaos Emeralds!"

"We'll never give them to you," Umbra said. The two emeralds circled, creating a bright light. The dragon god roared and flew off as a machine appeared in front of them.

"Quid est? (What?)" Celeritas asked.

Umbra and the others looked at the shocked priest.

"Long story; we'll tell you later," Articulos said, hoping in. Caudus clicked a few buttons, and a minute later, a red dragon burst out and flew after the black one.

The priest gasped. His eyes widened as he saw the new dragon, looking at the others.

"Again, long story. While he deals with Mars, why don't you come back with us. We've got some explaining to do," Caudus said, guiding a still shocked Celeritas away from The Hills.

When they got back to Caudus' house, the fox looked at Celeritas and cleared his throat. The priest was looked at them suspiciously.

"Who are you people?" He asked in Latin. "Why did Articulos become a dragon? Is he a god? Are you gods in human form?"

Etiam rhoncus (It's complicated)," Caudus said. "But we'll try to explain it. But you probably won't believe us."

"Adsum (I'm listening)," the priest said.

Caudus took a deep breath and started. "We are beings from the future. We had this foe called Dr. Eggman. He turned our friend into Mars, which as you can see, made the gods very angry."

Celeritas was drawing in every word, not showing any emotions on his face, so Argentum continued. "We used the Chaos Emeralds to bring a machine that Caucus built to transform us into mythical creatures to defeat him."

"So, when Mars got super mad, he transported us to this time and altered our energies so we can't leave. Now we are forgetting our timeline. So we have to defeat Mars before he ends the world," Umbra added. "And there's something else that you should know"

"Quid est hoc? (What is it?)."

Umbra looked at Caudus, who nodded, and then said: "Our friend that was turned into Mars...Sonic...is you."

Celeritas' eyes widened.

"I know it all sounds ridiculous but-" Caudus started to say, but stopped as Celeritas raised a hand.

"I believe you," he said. "For as long as I can remember...I have been immortal. "

"That's what we thought. Do you have any idea why?" Umbra asked.

The priest shook his head.

"Hmm...anyway, we need to trust you with something. At some point we might start bowing to Mars and forget our task. We'll need you to snap us out of it like I did to you. Mars will destroy anyone in front of him, so we need you to help us, even if it's against all your morals. Can we trust you?" Umbra asked.

"It is my duty as a Roman Priest to worship the gods. I am very religious. However...if Mars is trying to destroy us then I will help you. "


	7. Terror at the Roman Coliseum

Chapter 7: Terror at the Roman Coliseum

They nodded and heard a roar. Everyone ran outside and saw a red dragon land in front of them. It landed and growled then tried to change back but couldn't.

"Uh oh. There must something up with the machine. I'll go look at it," Caudus said.

The red dragon nodded. Caudus looked at the machine and frowned. "Something is wrong. I can try to reverse the polarity to turn you back, but it might take some time. Just give me a bit."

Articulos nodded. The dragon flapped its wings and flew off.

"Anyone else want to transform into a mythical creature?" Argentum asked.

"How about me? I don't mind," Umbra said.

"You do realize it could be permanent if I can't fix this?" Caudus said, raising his eyebrows at Umbra. He shrugged.

"I think it could be cool," he said.

"What are you going to turn into?" Argentum asked. "There's griffin, hydra, chimera, minotaur, Cerberus and sea serpent."

"I was thinking minotaur," Umbra said. "Is mos certus nos iuvare (It will definitely help us)." Caudus nodded and Umbra walked inside the machine.

Long curved horns slowly grew from Umbra's head, behind his ears. Both hedgehog ears flattened to the side as he grimaced, nose also flattening. Umbra felt his mouth stretching across his face as well. He growled low in his throat at the feelings over his body. All of his muscles got larger, adding a lot to his build. His face extended outward, curving like a bull's. Umbra reached up and touched his face. Running his hands over it, he got an image in his mind what he must look like. Painful snapping came from his legs and Umbra looked down to see them changing. Hooves took the place of his feet as his legs altered the way they bent. Excess fur grew out, giving him a shaggy look from waist to knees.

A few minutes later, a minotaur walked out. It looked at them and snorted. "You look like little insects from up here." Umbra boomed down at them. Celeritas was shaking from head to toe. He didn't he would see these creatures with his own eyes. He had only read stories.

"A Minotauro...id potentissimum (A Minotaur...it's very powerful)," he said.

The Minotaur looked at him. it walked forwards and Celeritas looked up at it.

"I feel powerful," it said.

The others nodded.

"Then go help Articulos. We need to stop Mars before he can start," Caudus said. The Minotaur looked down, gave him a thumbs up, then walked off, making the ground shake. They watched it leave and looked at the priest. "So what now?" Caudus asked, seeing if anyone had a response.

"We wait for the festival," Celeritas said.

They nodded, and went to bed.

A few days later, the festival to praise Mars was beginning. Everyone was in the Roman Coliseum, except for Articulos and Umbra; there were many games going on. Celeritas was there in the audience. "So what do we do if Mars shows up? And don't forget Articulos and Umbra. People will freak out if they see a dragon and minotaur running around," Caudus said, looking at Celeritas.

The priest nodded. "If mars shows up, most likely people will start praising him. Even I don't know how to combat a god. Where are the dragon and minotaur, anyway?"

"Quis scit (Who knows)," Argentum said. "They just ran off looking for him, and they haven't reported back."

The others nodded, and continued to watch the games. Suddenly, Caudus' ears perked up "Guys...I just heard something," he said. The other looked at him with wide eyes.

"Uh oh...you don't mean...?" Argentum started to say, but he was interrupted by a roar.

A large black dragon flew over the Coliseum, followed by a red dragon and a minotaur riding the red dragon's back.

"And let the praising begin," Flamma said, grinning. Caudus glared at her.

The black dragon landed and roared. Every Roman in the Coliseum bowed before the god. The red dragon growled and landed. It looked around as the minotaur jumped off and drew its axe, advancing towards the dragon god.

"Should we run or get involved?" Caudus asked, as Articulos roared, challenging the god.

"You have the machine, right?" Celeritas asked. "Use that."

They nodded and heard the dragon god speak to the crowd. "Petty mortals," he said, its voice booming over the crowd. "The gods have become very angry. You have abused the lives you were given. This world, shall fall!" Everyone looked up, shocked, as the others ran for the machine.

"Let's go, come on, hop in!" Caudus shouted, and Argentum bolted into it. Caudus clicked the buttons like before, and a white Cerberus burst out of the machine, running full out at the dragon.

The three-headed dog roared as it leapt at the dragon. Mars growled at it and attacked. The two clashed, with the Cerberus biting and the dragon clawing, it was hard to tell who was winning. The dragon and Minotaur circled the two, looking for an opening to attack. Mars growled in anger. he bit at the Cerberus but it dodged the attacks, using its three heads to bite through the hard scales. The red dragon landed next to the Cerberus. It opened its mouth and breathed fire at the god.

"You think anything will work?" Caudus asked Celeritas, watching the four creatures fight.

The priest thought about it. "Not at the moment," he said.

Caudus nodded as the mythical creatures fought the god. The red dragon growled and opened its mouth, using another fire attack. It used its claws to scratch mars but nothing seemed to work.

"Fools!" he boomed, hitting the red dragon away with a wing. "You cannot hope to defeat me! I am the God of War!" he roared, slashing at the Minotaur and Cerberus at the same time, leaving gashes on their stomachs.

They roared in pain. The Minotaur growled angrily as it retreated. The Cerberus followed as it did the same. Mars chuckled, and then flew away. He had to make himself more powerful so that he would never be defeated. Caudus ran up to the Minotaur. It had fallen to its knees, clutching the wound. he couldn't have it change back yet; the fox was still working on the machine and would take a while.

"Hang in there Umbra," he called, working furiously, while Celeritas studied the Chaos Emeralds. The minotaur nodded as Flamma came over and treated the wound. The Coliseum was empty except for them. Once the Minotaur was healed, it got on the back of the dragon and looked at them.

"Articulos and I are living in a cave not far from here," it said. "The Cerberus is coming with us."

Everyone nodded and watched the dragon spread its wings and fly off.


	8. Mythical Creatures

Chapter 8: Mythical Creatures

"So I should be able to have it fixed by tomorrow, if your precious god doesn't come back" Caudus said, looking at Celeritas, who couldn't keep his eyes off the Chaos Emeralds. "Heus tu me auscultas? (Hey, are you listening to me?)"

"Quod?" Celeritas looked at him. "Non sum, non paenitet, (What? No I wasn't, sorry.)"

"Why are you fascinated by those? They're not that interesting are they?" Caudus said, annoyed.

"I have never seen gems like these before. They're amazing. It's like they're from the gods."

Caudus nodded, turning away. They had to get back to his house. "Look, those actually help you a lot in the future. But I don't think I should talk about it, half because I don't want to mess up time, and half because I forgotten a lot about it," Caudus said, as he walked to his house along with Flamma and Celeritas.

Once they got to the house, Caudus continued to work on the machine. Flamma asked him. "Do you know what Mars is after?"

Celeritas nodded. "Legend has it that there are many mythological objects that could make the gods more powerful. The Thunderbolts of Zeus, given to him by Vulcan, the Sword of Attila, Mars' original sword, and Apollo and Artemis' bow."

"Oh well that's just perfect! Like we need a more powerful god!" Caudus said, working furiously on the machine.

"Are you okay?' Flamma asked, which got her a glare from Caudus.

"We could take the items for ourselves. That would prevent him from getting stronger," Celeritas said.

"Great. And where are suppose to find them?" Caudus asked.

"They are all around Rome. I'm not sure where."

"Oh great! Now we've got more things to look for! Not like we were busy enough!" Caudus said, punching the wall. This made Celeritas and Flamma look at him in alarm.

"Caudus...are you okay?" Flamma asked.

The fox growled in anger and glared at them. He shook his head. "I'm just so frustrated. In the spam of a week, my best friend was turned into a raging god. We were ripped out of out timeline and put in a new one. We are forgetting everything about our old lives, and now I'm starting to forget how to work this machine, so I'm afraid our friends may be stuck in their other forms. Our whole lives have been turned upside down and now we've been thrust in to saving the world, which Sonic has always done. I'm not used to all this responsibility and it's just stressing me out...I just...don't know what to do" Caudus said, sitting in a chair with his head in his hands.

Celeritas looked at him. "if you are stressed, then take a break. Flamma can work on the machine. Another cure for stress is to pray."

Caudus hesitated. He sighed and bowed his head, hoping the gods would hear him. "Please Zeus, I know you may be mad at my request, but I pray to you, help us defeat Mars. Man can't die for the sin of one man. Please Zeus, give me strength," Caudus prayed, as Flamma worked on the machine.

He opened his eyes, waiting for something to happen. "Almost done," Flamma said, while Celeritas was watching Caudus.

The fox raised his head and looked around. he had hoped that Zeus, or Jupiter as he was known in Rome, had heard him. Caudus looked at Celeritas and smiled. "I feel little better. Now let's see if we can reverse this machine. Step back please" he said. Flamma back away as Caudus worked away.

A few hours passed, and he was finished. Caudus hesitated, wondering if he should test it on himself first or have Flamma test it.

"Oh. I'll give it a go," Flamma said, as she saw the look on Caudus' face. He nodded, and she walked inside. A few minutes later, a lavender griffin stepped out of the machine and screeched loudly.

The griffin flapped its wings and looked around. Its eagle sharp eyes took in everyone in the room. Celeritas' eyes widened in shock, looking at it.

"Mirum (Amazing)," he said.

"Thanks," Caudus said. "Alright Flamma, try to turn back."

The griffin nodded. It closed its eyes and tried to revert to its normal form. A bright light surrounded the griffin and Flamma stood in its place.

"That was cool," she said.

"Alright! It worked! Let's go find the others to change them back" Caudus said, grabbing the machine and running out the door.

Celeritas and Flamma chuckled as they followed him. As Caudus ran outside, they heard a roar and looked up to see Articulos fly down, with Umbra on his back. Argentum was running close behind them.

"Hey guys, we can change you back now if you want!" Caudus called up to them.

The three mythical creatures looked at each other. They closed their eyes and turned back into their normal forms.

"That was cool," Articulos said. "I prefer my dragon form. What do you two think?" He asked Argentum and Umbra.

"I liked being a minotaur. I felt powerful. But I guess we can't be our mythical creature selves all the time or people will start to get freaked out. We already put on a show at the festival" Umbra said, and Argentum nodded in agreement.

"The people will get used to seeing mythical creatures eventually," Argentum said. "When they do, we can make those forms permanent. "

The others nodded in agreement.

"Let's hope they get used to it," Caudus said, stepping into the machine. The first thing Caudus felt was both of his tails molding into one. Looking back at it, he was confused to see that it was also shaped differently. Everything started itching as scales covered his skin. Rubbing his arm didn't help; it just caused the fur to come off it. Strands of yellow fell to the ground as the fox stared at the gleaming scales of the same color. Blinking, Caudus continued staring at them as pain slowly built up in his body. Most of it was centered in his lower half and face. All the bones in his lower half were reshaping and growing, giving him more mass around his hips. The reshaping of his spine forced him onto all fours as it lengthened as well. The pain was something he never wanted to feel again. His arms were the same, though Caudus took note of the fact that they were much larger than usual. Long claws forced their way from his fingers as he watched them mold into three. It was fascinating, he had to admit. Closing his right eye in pain, Caudus wrinkled his nose as he felt the hind legs painfully change how they were shaped and connected. Both thighs became much smaller as his feet seemed to make up most of the lower leg. Caudus shuddered at the unpleasant feeling starting on his shoulders. Eight more heads burst up from his body, a bit of blood coming with them. Caudus roared in pain as he felt it happen along with every feature of his face changing into a long, draconian snout with razor-sharp fangs.

A few minutes later, an orange, nine-headed hydra stepped out. It roared loudly and looked around. The hydra's tail swung back and forth. It flapped its wings and flew off.

"Where do you suppose it's going?" Umbra said, watching it fly away.

"Probably to try out its new form. That's what I did," Articulos said.

Argentum nodded. He walked inside and saw Celeritas. "What do you think of our new forms?"

The priest nodded. "Impressive."

"Not to mention fun. Thanks for going against your beliefs and helping us out" Argentum said, smiling at Celeritas.

Celeritas shrugged. "I'll be at the shrine if you need me," he said and walked off.

"Hard to believe that is Sonic, compared to the one we know" Umbra said, watching Celeritas walking away. When he turned back around, he fell over in surprise. Flamma was showing everyone her new form and the gryphon was standing over him, smiling. They looked up at it. The griffin screeched and flapped its wings.

"Okay, so now all of us have another form. Now what?" Articulos said, then they noticed the Hydra coming back. It landed and turned back into Caudus, who looked at them.

"Are you guys trying to figure out what to do next?" he asked. When they nodded, he turn to Flamma. "We know. Celeritas says Mars will most likely be looking for objects to make him stronger. Aside from the Chaos Emeralds, there's The Thunderbolts of Zeus, the Sword of Attila, and Apollo and Artemis' bow."

"And where are they?" Argentum asked.

"Nescio (I don't know)," Caudus said, shrugging. "But I'm guessing they're spread all over Ancient Rome, most likely on The Seven Hills of Rome."

The others nodded.

"Alright," Flamma said. "Let's find them soon."


	9. The Soul of Mars

Chapter 9: The Soul of Mars

A few days later, they had split up. One group was looking for the Chaos Emeralds, and the other was looking for the god objects. Celeritas was with Articulos and Caudus, looking for the Sword of Attila. They needed Celeritas because he knew what they looked like. The Romans had left their homes and went to the Seven Hills of Rome. They were in their mythical creature forms and were on the lookout for Mars. While Flamma flew around, Umbra and Argentum searched on the ground.

_See any of them?_ Flamma said, telepathically. The minotaur and Cerberus shook their heads and continued to search for the Chaos Emeralds.

"It sucks that they're so small," Umbra growled, and Argentum barked in agreement.

* * *

In another part of the hills, Mars watched them. Inside his mind, a black hedgehog was slowly being absorbed. It was Sonic. He was being corrupted by the god and was slowly gaining the form of the dragon.

"Let me go, you bastard," Sonic growled, feeling the darkness filling him.

Mars appeared and chuckled. "Never," he said. "Once you are corrupted, I shall become complete. We are more alike than you think."

"We are nothing alike. I know what is going to happen. I lived in that time, remember?!" Sonic yelled back, grinding his teeth.

"Oh Sonic...or should I say Celeritas...you'll know the truth soon enough. There is a reason that you are immortal, one that you, yourself, don't even know! But I do. Once you are corrupted, I will take this world as my own and the gods will rule Earth! There is nothing you can do. The gods are the ones that created the Chaos Emeralds. I have split my soul into them, and they will transform your friends into my servants!"

Sonic shook his head, grinning. "Mihi crede, non vincere (Trust me, you won't win). Some of my friends are strong willed. Your plan will fail."

The God of War grinned. "We'll see..." he said, and faded from his own mind. Sonic groaned, transforming even further into a dragon as he became more corrupted. This was going to be tough.

* * *

Out on the Seven Hills of Rome, Umbra spotted a red glow.

"Look, it's the red Chaos Emerald!" he yelled running over to it. As Flamma went towards it, she felt a weird disturbance in it, and screeched.

_Umbra, don't touch it!_ she yelled into his mind, but too late. As Umbra grabbed it, black smoke surrounded him and he roared out as he felt darkness envelop him.

The minotaur roared in pain and felt itself begin to transform. In minutes, a dragon stood there, but it wasn't a normal one. It was humanoid. The soul of Mars looked around. It growled, flicking its tongue out and extended its razor-sharp claws. Then, it lunged. Argentum jumped back as the humanoid slashed at it, and used all of its heads to try and bite the humanoid. The griffin flew, trying to attack in any way it could, especially going for the head.

The humanoid dragon growled angrily. It spread its wings and flew into the air, then dove down at the Cerberus. It scratched the three heads simultaneously, causing the mythical creature to roar. The Cerberus looked at the humanoid dragon, bearing its fangs and growling in anger.

_Umbra, snap out of it. What is wrong with you?_ It growled, trying to snatch the humanoid out of the air.

_I think he's been possessed by Mars. He can't hear us!_ The griffin said to the Cerberus, dodging the humanoid as it tried to knock it out of the sky.

The soul of Mars growled angrily, breathing fire on the griffin. It screeched as it felt the fire singe its fur and dodged, using its talons to scratch the humanoid. The dragon growled as it closed its eyes and absorbed the Chaos Emerald, making it more powerful and changing its appearance slightly, like Chaos.

_This is ridiculous. We have to retreat!_ the Cerberus said, dodging another assault of fire from the humanoid.

The griffin nodded. It screeched and flew away as the Cerberus lowered its heads to the ground and followed the flying creature. The humanoid dragon let out another roar before flying away from them. Meanwhile, Celeritas, Caudus and Articulos were still searching everywhere for the objects of the gods, when they heard a screech and saw the griffin and the Cerberus heading towards them.

"Hey guys, where's Umbra?" Caudus asked, as they turn back to normal.

"Creepy story," Flamma said. "We found a Chaos Emerald, and Umbra touched it, As soon as he did, however, he transformed into an anthropomorphic dragon and began to attack us!"

As Caudus and Articulos gaped at her, Celeritas thought through what they had been told.

"Is it possible that Mars put his his soul into the, what did you call it, Chaos Emerald that you found?" he asked. Caudus thought about it and nodded. "If that is true...we need to be careful," Celeritas said. "He could have split his soul into the other emeralds as well."

"So don't touch any emeralds until we are sure they are safe or that we can fight him?" Articulos asked. Celeritas nodded, and Caudus sighed.

"I need to go pray again. I feel stressed out again" he said, walking away.

"Come with me to the shrine," Celeritas said. "We can pray there together."

Caudus nodded and the two of them left.


	10. A Battle of Creatures

Chapter 10: A Battle of Creatures  


Articulos watched them leave, confused. "Since when did Caudus pray?" he asked, hoping someone would answer. The others shrugged. "Maybe since he's forgetting about the modern time he is starting to adjust to this time."

"Nah, he's just stressed out. He's not used to all this responsibility," Flamma said. "But, there's probably that also. Anyway, what do we do about Umbra? He's still possessed by Mars."

Argentum shrugged. "Any ideas?"

"First, we get Mars' soul out of Umbra. Second, we figure out how we're going to collect the other Chaos Emeralds without being possessed ourselves," Articulos said, turning into his dragon form and flying away.

Flamma sighed and looked at Argentum. "We also need to look for the items."

"Friend first. That's what Caudus would say," Argentum said. Flamma sighed; she knew he wasn't going to give. Flamma nodded. She turned into a griffin and looked at Argentum. It flapped its wings, waiting for him to transform. "Remember, we find him, get Mars' soul out and then find the other items," he said, and then he started to transform.

The first thing Argentum felt pressure in his feet as his toes merged into three digits, becoming paws. Thick nails grew out of each digit, and the same thing happened in his hands. His arms and legs thickened, forcing him onto all fours. He felt his muscles thicken given him more power. He felt sick as his organs moved around his body, reshaping themselves. He yelled out in pain as he felt pressure in chest, which was expanding and growing more muscular as well. His tail stretched out, scales covered it from top to bottom, and the end became pointed.

Next came his head. His quills retracted into his skull, and his face grew out into a snout. His ears swiveled to the back of his head, and grew out a bit. His teeth vibrated as they became sharp. His eyes became slanted, giving them the appearance of anger. Finally, he felt pressure in his shoulders as two identical heads pushed their way out. Where Argentum was before, now stood a 10-foot tall, white Cerberus.

The Cerberus growled. It looked around with its three heads and then walked out of the house. They soon came to the Seven Hills of Rome. The Cerberus lowered its heads and began sniffing for the Chaos Emeralds. Suddenly, they heard a roar and saw the humanoid dragon flying like a bullet at Articulos, who dodged by an inch of his scales. The Cerberus growled and attacked. It jumped in the air, snapping at the humanoid dragon. The humanoid flew up to avoid the attack, and then had to defend itself as the griffon flew at it, scratching with its talons. The humanoid roared and blew fire at the dragon. It dodged the blast and countered with its own flames. The fire blast didn't phase the humanoid.

"This is foolish! Everyone will soon serve Master Mars," the humanoid growled. It pulled something out, and the griffin shrieked in shock. It was the purple Chaos Emerald.

The three mythical creatures looked at the humanoid in shock. It closed its eyes and a bright purple light sh9t from the emerald and hit one of them. The griffin and dragon were able to easily dodge it, but the Cerberus wasn't so lucky. With a yelp, it felt the light hit it, and then the same dark aura surrounded it as he began to transform. Minutes later it became a humanoid.

_I'll take Argentum, you take Umbra,_ the griffin said to the dragon, who nodded and attacked.

Now it was two on two, and it was a complete air battle. But the humanoids, with the power of Mars on their side, had a slight edge. They roared and fired dark energy balls at the creatures. The dragon and griffin swerved to avoid them, and attacked right back. The griffin scratched at the humanoid that was Argentum's eyes, while the dragon snapped at the other one. Once again, nothing seemed to be working.

The two humanoid dragons laughed.

"You fools can't stop us!" One said. It closed its eyes as it form started to shift.

Soon it had become a hydra. The griffin's eyes widened in shock and it screeched. The hydra roared and attacked, pummeling the griffin to the ground. But as it went to attack again, something large rammed into it, throwing it aside. Caudus had arrived in his hydra form and was now fighting the other hydra. The hydra growled. It looked at the corrupted hydra and opened its mouth to breathe fire at the other. The corrupted hydra did the same, and the two jets of flame collided, causing an explosion.

_There's nothing we can do. We have a lead on one of the god objects. We have to leave, now!_ The hydra said telepathically to the griffin and red dragon. They nodded and they all flew away, leaving their corrupted friends, who were laughing evilly at them retreating.

"Next time we'll corrupt someone else. You will serve Master Mars!" the humanoid dragon called after them.

The mythical creatures growled and flew off.


	11. The Sword of Attila

Chapter 11: The Sword of Attila 

Once they got back to the city, they turned back to normal.

"What are we going to do?" Argentum asked.

"I don't know. There's got to be a way to stop them from corrupting us. Anyway, he think he know where to find The Sword of Attila. Celeritas can explain it better then I can. Come on, he's over by Mars' shrine. Praying actually helps a lot" Caudus said, smiling. Articulos looked at him like he still had nine heads.

"I never thought I'd see him be cheery about praying. It's like he's been brainwashed," he whispered to Flamma, who smack him over the back of the head.

"Caudus...why have you gotten religious all of a sudden?"

Caudus looked at them, and then he thought about it. "I...actually don't know," he said, a puzzled look coming across his face. "I don't know if it's the fact that I don't remember how to use a screwdriver and that I need something to replace machinery, if it's that I'm really stressed out and praying helps calm me down, or that it's because we're now part of this timeline and that it seems to be something important to do. But it just...feels so right ya know?" he asked them, almost as if he was pleading for them to help him understand.

The others thought about it and nodded.

"Now that you mention it...religion does seem important," Articulos said.

"See. Anyway, Celeritas is this way," Caudus said, leading them to the shrines.

They nodded and followed Caudus. Once they got to the shrine, Celeritas saw them.

"Hey! Looks like Caudus found you...where's Argentum?" he asked, looking for the white hedgehog.

"He was corrupted."

Celeritas sighed. "What do you want me to do?"

"Well, Caudus said you had a lead on The Sword of Attila. What is this lead?" Flamma asked.

"The Sword of Attila is not far from here. It's located in a cave in the mountains."

"Well we could fly there, but I'm afraid Mars and the others might be waiting there with another Chaos Emerald. So we need to plan out how to get there without drawing attention."

The priest nodded. "We could ride in a chariot."

"Can a chariot climbs those hills?" Caudus asked.

"It can."

"Alright. Do you know a guy?"

Celeritas nodded. He walked out of Caudus' house and the others followed him. Soon they came to a stable with chariots drawn by horses. "Emi currus amo (We'd like to buy a chariot)," he told the owner.

"Very well. Why do you need one, if you don't mind me asking?" the chariot owner asked, raising an eyebrow at the priest.

"We're going on a trip to the mountains. People mostly walk in Rome but we thought it would be easier to use the chariot. "

The owner looked at him suspiciously. "You wouldn't be doing anything on The Seven Hills of Rome would you? You know people are banned from going up there?"

"Only priests like me are allowed to be there," Celeritas said. "But we're not going to the Seven Hills of Rome."

"Very well," the owner said, leading them to one of his best chariots.

They nodded and got inside, then rode off.

"What year is it, anyway?" Flamma asked.

Celeritas looked at her confused. "What is a year?" he asked.

"It's...a unit of time that is divided into twelve months...January, February, March, April, May...etc. I believe the year is 753 BC," Caudus told him. "Isn't the king that's ruling Rome now Romulus?"

"Yes, it is! Incredible!" Celeritas said, looking at Caudus in awe.

"What are you so excited about?"

"Well I've never met people like you guys, so it's interesting what you guys come up with. I mean between that and the thing that made you all into magnificent creatures, I really like all of you. And you say I'm your friend in this future you say you're from?" Caudus nodded, and Celeritas smiled again. They continued on the road that led to the mountain. It look a few hours but they finally got there. The priest jumped off. "The cave should be around here somewhere."

"There! I see it!" Articulos yelled, pointing at a massive hole in the distance.

"Good eye," Celeritas said. He led the way, followed by the others. They went inside the cave; it was long and dark. "We must proceed with caution," the priest told them. "There are traps everywhere that guard the sword." As if on cue, Caudus stepped onto a tile, and it sunk into the ground. Celeritas grabbed him, and pulled him down as a jet of fire blazed over their heads. "Inclinate aurem vestram (Pay attention!)"

"Lorem ipsum! (Sorry!)" Caudus said, feeling embarrassed.

Celeritas sighed, shaking his head in exasperation, and moved on. The others followed him cautiously.

"Why is this cave so big?" Flamma asked, after they had walked for fifteen minutes.

The priest shrugged. Eventually they came to the end. A large shrine to Mars could be seen. "The Sword of Attila is inside," Celeritas said. "It is really Mars' sword."

"Interesting. Let's hope Mars doesn't arrive to claim it," Articulos said, walking up to it. "Do we need to break it or something?"

"No, don't!" Celeritas said. "Just take it with you!"

"Yeah man, you don't go and break a god's shrine!" Caudus added. Articulos rolled his eyes at Flamma, and picked up the shrine with one hand. He opened it and saw the sword. It was magnificent. He chuckled and took it but as he did, a deep red aura could be seen around it and entered Articulos.

"Oh gods, not this again!" Flamma exclaimed.

Suddenly, laughter could be heard and Mars appeared. "This is almost to easy! You are all so foolish!" he laughed, as Umbra and Argentum appeared next to him. They were in their regular forms, but they were surrounded in a black aura and they had blank eyes.

"What do you mean?" Celeritas asked.

Mars laughed, looking at Articulos. The echidna was changing. A few minutes later, a wolf/dragon hybrid stood in his place, surrounded by the same black aura. He looked a lot like a wolf except he had scales instead of fur, horns grew out of his head, and he breathed fire.

"That is an abomination!" Flamma yelled at Mars, forming fire in her hands, which startled Celeritas.

The wolf/dragon hybrid snarled. It lunged at Flamma as the black dragon god watched in amusement. Flamma transformed into her griffin form and flew up to avoid the hybrid. Caudus turned into his hydra form to combat Umbra and Argentum, who had jumped into the fray.

"Mars!" Celeritas asked. "What have you done with the sword?"

The dragon god looked at him with a hint of recognition in his eyes. "Enyalius..."

"What did you say?" Celeritas growled. "You need to stop hurting my friends!" he yelled, and a wave of energy blasted out of the priest. All of Mars' servants were thrown backwards by the blast.

Mars was shocked, as were the mythical creatures and the servants. The dragon god smirked, and then laughed loudly, still looking at Celeritas. "Oh, there is so much that you don't know! I can't believe you have forgotten!" he laughed, causing everyone to stare at him in confusion.


	12. The Mystery of Celeritas

Chapter 12: The Mystery of Celeritas

Inside Mars' mind, Sonic was partly corrupt and was still trying to get out. However, he couldn't. Half of his body was transformed and the rest of the transformation was progressing. He had heard what Mars said and was also confused.

"What are you talking about? What did I forget all those years ago? I remember you saying that, but you never told me. So what are you hiding?" Mars chuckled, and then told Sonic what he meant. Once he was done, the hedgehog's eyes widened. "Oh my gods, no! That's not true! You're lying!" he yelled, starting to resist the corruption even more.

He groaned in pain; the anger he had was progressing the corruption even faster. Sighing, he resigned to his fate, still in shock of what Mars had told him.

* * *

Outside of Mars' mind, Celeritas was actually helping the hydra fight Umbra and Argentum, while the griffin fought off the hybrid that was Articulos. The griffin screeched as it continued to fight the hybrid. It scratched the hybrid with its claws as blood flew from the wound it gave.

Celeritas was feeling energy inside him, and looked at Mars. "Tell me what you have done with the sword!"

"It was my sword, therefore it had a part of me in it. How could you not figure it out simpleton?"

The priest glared at him. "Why did you call me Enyalius?"

"Now is not the time for you to know. Now is the time for your friends to die or join me!"

"Never!" Celeritas shouted, and another blast of energy radiated from his body, hitting Mars.

The god lurched and growled. "You little pest! This is not a good time. Retreat now!" he ordered. Umbra, Argentum and Articulos all followed the fleeing god. Celeritas saw the mythical creatures land and look at him curiously before falling unconscious.

_Let's take mister energy blast and get out of here,_ Caudus said telepathically to the griffin.

The griffin nodded. It picked Celeritas up in its talons and flew back to Rome. They landed on the outskirts on the city before returning to their normal forms. Caudus looked at the priest in shock.

"Did you see him? I had no idea he could do that! Even though we're forgetting our timeline, I swear the only time he's done something like that was in his Super form! What happened back there?" he said, pacing back and forth.

"I do not know," Flamma said. "And Mars called him Enyalius, whatever that means."

"Whatever, we should get him back to one of our houses. I can't believe we've lost Articulos now. This is going nowhere!" he said, frustrated.

Flamma nodded and followed Caudus back to his house, carrying Celeritas with her. When they got to Caudus' house, Flamma stopped in her tracks. Inside was a small shrine dedicated to Zeus.

"Really?" she asked, looking at the fox.

Caudus looked at her, embarrassed. "Well...praying has helped a lot so...I thought I would make something for the big guy in the sky," he said, sheepishly.

"You've found religion, haven't you?" Flamma asked. Caudus nodded, and Flamma smiled. "Can't say I blame you. All of us have made shrines in our own homes dedicated to the gods."

"You did? Who's in your house?" Caudus asked, a little amazed at the news.

"Vulcan, the goddess of fire."

"Interesting. But not surprising. Anyway, should we try to wake him up?" he asked, gesturing to the unconscious Celeritas.

Flamma nodded and slapped Celeritas. A few minutes later, he woke up.

"Quod factum est (What happened?)" He asked, looking at their shocked faces.

"You tried to blow up Mars and he ran away. Then you passed out" Caudus said, smirking.

Celeritas frowned and he nodded. "I remember letting out a blast of energy...I've never done that before...and he called me Enyalius. Do you know what that means?" he asked, confusion in his face.

"Not a clue. We hoped you would know." Flamma said. Celeritas shook his head. "Not important. What is important is that we just lost another member to Mars. We have got to be more careful. If we weren't that much of a threat, he would just simply kill us. He's scared of us, that's why he's making us his servants. Who knows what he's doing right now?"

"I understand," Celeritas said. "We need to find the other items of the gods, and fast."

"Kind of hard when Mars has probably corrupted those too. How are we suppose to collect them if he's has a hold on everything that could help us?" Caudus asked.

Celeritas thought about it. He wasn't sure. "We'll figure it out. Right now, let's try to get your friends back. I know you've tried but there must be something we're missing," he said, scratching his head.

They nodded.

"So, what should we do?" Flamma asked.

"What if we to somehow make him believe another one of us is corrupt, and then find a way to bring the others back to their senses?" Caudus asked.

"That will work," Celeritas said. "But how can we do that?"

"Flamma, do you think you have a strong will?" Caudus asked Flamma.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I do," Flamma said.

"Then I know what to do," Caudus said grinning.


	13. Caudus' Plan

Chapter 13: Caudus' Plan

Mars was angry. The god was looking for Caudus, Flamma and Celeritas, as were his minions. He growled angrily, scanning the city for them.

"How does a hydra, a griffin and a pest just disappear off the face of the planet?" he growled in anger.

He growled, still looking for them. Celeritas was the one that he was most interested in...he knew about the hedgehog's past. A few minutes later, he heard a screech. The griffin was flying towards him, its long talons bared to attack.

"Stop it!" Mars yelled, and Umbra changed into his humanoid dragon form and attacked.

The humanoid growled and flew up to the griffin, attacking it. The griffin screeched, slashing its talons across the dragon's scales. The humanoid roared and countered with fire. The griffon screeched as it was burn and the wolf/dragon hybrid leapt up and dragged the griffon to the ground. It screeched loudly as the humanoids brought out a Chaos Emerald, corrupting the griffin.

"Fools! Welcome to the club," Argentum said, grinning evilly. The griffin nodded and bowed before Mars.

_What is your bidding?_ It asked through telepathy.

"We must find the last two; the hydra and the priest. We must turn the hydra to our side and dispose of the priest," Mars ordered. The griffin nodded, but deep down inside, it was freaking out. Dispose of Celeritas!?

Mars turned to Articulous. He fired a beam of energy at the hybrid, transforming it into a human version of Mars. It had the sword in its hand and sheathed the object.

"You shall go and destroy the priest. And bring the griffin with you," Mars said.

The human version of Mars nodded. It got on the griffin's back and they flew into the air. The griffin grinned. This was almost too easy. The god was over confident. They were falling right into their trap.

When they got back to the house, the human version of Mars jumped off an looked at it. "Stay here. I will deal with the priest."

The griffin nodded, and then talked to Caudus telepathically. _Mars turned Articulos into a human. He's got the Sword of Attila. Watch out, he's coming now._

Caudus looked at the priest. "We need to get you to a safe place."

Celeritas nodded but then the human avatar of Mars burst in, drawing his sword. "Look out!" Caudus called, throwing Celeritas out of the way, grabbing the first thing he could find, his shrine of Zeus, and blocked the sword with it.

The human version of Mars growled angrily. "You think you can beat me? I am the avatar of Mars!"

Celeritas looked at him. "Well it's too bad for you. I can't die. I'm immortal."

"Immortals can die if they are murdered!" the human yelled, swinging at Celeritas, but was once again blocked by Caudus.

"Only by other immortals."

"Then Mars will have to take you out personally. Instead, I'll take him" the human said, pointing his sword at Caudus.

Celeritas' eyes widened. He shook his head and felt a power well up inside him. "NO!" He yelled, throwing fire at it.

The human deflected the fire with his sword, looking shocked. Caudus also was surprised, but shook it off, and nailed the human in the stomach.

"Jump on your griffin and get out!" Caudus snarled.

The avatar of Mars snarled. He ran outside and jumped on the griffin. It gave a screech and flapped its wings, flying back to Mars. Once they got there, the dragon looked at them.

"What happened? You don't look happy. You didn't kill the priest, did you?" he growled.

"I can't. He's immortal," the avatar said.

The god growled. "Of course he is. I'll have to kill him myself. What about the fox? Why didn't you corrupt him?"

"I was about to when the priest summoned fire and attacked me, causing me to retreat."

The dragon roared and slashed at the human, leaving a deep cut in his shoulder. "I will not tolerate failure! How that fox was able to avoid my corruption so many times I don't know. But he will serve me! Am I understood?"

The avatar nodded. "I will not fail you, Master."

He walked away. Mars growled; it seemed that Celeratis was slowly starting to remember who he was. He closed his eyes and appeared before Sonic, who was almost fully corrupted.

"I see that you are accepting the corruption. That is good."

Sonic glared at him. "You won't win Mars. I know myself and my friends well. Caudus and Celeritas will stop you."

Mars laughed. "Celeritas IS you, Sonic. And don't forget what I told you. It's a wonder you didn't figure it out before."

"I guess something happened and I forgot. Doesn't matter. I know Celeritas is me, I know myself well, and he will stop you. You sense the growing power in him, that's why you're so afraid."

"Oh Enyalius...you never cease to surprise me."

"Of course not...old friend."

"You do realize that you were destined to become me. We are part of each other, after all."

"Bullcrap! We are two different people! And it's all your fault that what happened to me happened!"

Mars laughed. "You are so naive, Enyalius...don't you even remember your past?"

Sonic growled. "Of course I do! You telling me reminded me of everything. And I remember that you're an asshole!" he shouted.

"Then you remember that you were put under a curse and banished for a reason."

Sonic chuckled; that's where Mars was wrong. "I was banished because you sabotaged me. And why don't you call me by my real name? Don't want to say, you big chicken?" he mocked.

"The gods will decide if you are ready to come back or not. But like I said, you will never regain your true form."

Sonic smiled; he had secretly been gathering energy to regain his true form.

_We shall see,_ Sonic thought.


	14. Exorcism

Chapter 14: Exorcism  


Outside of Mars' mind, the griffin was looking at all of Mars' servants, trying to figure out who to bring back first. It decided on the humanoid that was Umbra and screeched. Umbra looked at it.

_We should go find that pathetic hydra and turn him. I'm sick of waiting around,_ it screeched.

Umbra nodded. "Very well," it said. "Lead the way."

The griffin nodded and took off, with Umbra following it close behind. They swooped down over the city, high enough so people wouldn't see them, but low enough so they could see perfectly well.

_I have Umbra with me. Are you ready to try and change him back?_ the griffin called out to Caudus.

Caudus came out and nodded. Umbra glared at him. _There he is!_ it roared, swooping down towards Caudus, who transformed into his hydra form.

The hydra roared as it flew into the air, attacking the humanoid dragon. Using each head, the hydra grabbed a part of the humanoid and started to drag it down. The humanoid looked at the griffon for help. The griffin screeched, flapping its wings. It watched the hydra use its nine heads and wound the humanoid. Soon, it had dragged the humanoid to the ground, which was badly wounded.

"You...you traitor...you were never corrupted were you?" the humanoid hissed at the griffin who had landed and was walking up to it.

_Of course not,_ it said telepathically. _I was simply pretending._

The humanoid growled and continued to struggle, but it was no use. Celeritas walked outside, wearing his priest robes. "Anima Martis, spacer (Soul of Mars, submit)," he said.

The humanoid screamed in pain as it felt Mars' soul tear from its body. The hydra got off as the humanoid started to transform. Soon, Umbra was back in his minotaur form, groaning in pain.

"Vi superum projeci te malum. (By the power of the gods, I cast the evil from you.)"

A bright glow was radiating from the priest as he said that. The same glow surrounded the minotaur, causing it to tremble as a black mist flew into the air and vanished.

"Is he okay?" Caudus asked the priest when he had turned back to normal.

"It'll be fine," Celeritas said. He picked the Minotaur up and brought it into the house. The priest could feel massive power flowing through his body.

"I don't understand," he said to himself, then looked a the griffin. "I think it's best you go back and report what has happened. Make it seem like you tried to help but you were injured by me so there was nothing you could do." The griffin nodded. It spread its wings and flew off. Celeritas sighed, then looked at the unconscious Minotaur. It wasn't moving at all. "This is going to take a while," he said to Caudus, who had just walked in. The fox nodded. "The Minotaur is going to be unconscious for a long time. It was just exorcised so it's still battling the darkness inside of it."

"I thought you exorcized all the darkness out of him? What do you mean he still fighting the darkness inside?" Caudus asked, alarmed.

"It still has a piece of Mars' soul inside it. I couldn't get all of the god's soul out; the Minotaur will have part of Mars' soul inside its body forever."

"Crap. Will it be able to conquer and control it?"

"The Minotaur will, yes. It's a very powerful creature, so it should be able to control part of Mars' soul," Celeritas said.

"So...what does that do to him? Does he gain anything from it?" Caudus pressed on, feeling relieved that his friend would be okay.

"I am not sure. It may gain some powers of the god, but we'll have to wait until it wakes up."

"So now that he have Umbra back, we could use him to get the other items when he wakes up," Caudus said.

The priest smiled. He looked at the Minotaur, wondering when it would wake, and looked at the machine. "Do you mind if I use that?" He asked Caudus.

"Um, I don't know the controls anymore. Why?"

Celeritas smiled. "I just thought it would be cool if I became a mythical creature as well. I want to see what it's like."

Caudus smiled. "I don't think that is necessary."

"Oh...all right. Anyway, what should we do with the machine since you don't know how to work it anymore? Destroy it?"

"Probably. We don't need someone accidentally turning into a dragon or sea serpent. And I don't think you understood when I said it wouldn't be necessary for you to use the machine. There's something special about you; I can tell."

Celeritas looked at him, confused. "What do you mean by that?"

Caudus' smiled turned into a smirk. "Well, think about it. You're shooting energy blasts out of your body, you just threw fire at Mars' avatar and you exorcized Umbra here from Mars' soul like it was nothing. Tell me how that doesn't scream special?"

"I guess you're right...but how could that be? I've never had those powers before."

"They didn't show up until Mars, my friends and I appeared, didn't they?"

"Until Mars appeared, yes..." Celeritas said. "Could I be connected to him in some way?"

"I think I have an idea. You are immortal, your powers started appearing when Mars came, and it seems like Mars is scared of you if he sent someone to kill you." Celeritas didn't know where Caudus was going with this.

"What are you getting at?"

Caudus smiled; he knew what Celeritas was. "Celeritas...I'm pretty sure you're a god."


	15. Caudus' Last Stand

Chapter 15: Caudus' Last Stand

The priest was silent for a moment. His eyes widened in shock. "Me...a...a god? But how? If I'm a god, shouldn't I be..." He pointed to the heavens.

"You are asking the wrong person. But with all the information I've gathered, that's the only thing I can think of," Caudus replied.

Celeritas sat down, shocked by this news. How could he be a god? "If you say I'm a god, I believe you...but if I'm on Earth, I'm probably a fallen god. Is there anyone I can ask about this?" He asked.

Caudus' face turned grim. "The only two people who would be able to is trying to kill you, and the other is locked inside that killer. If what we say is true, we can't go asking Mars, he'll just try to kill you faster. But we can use this to our advantage."

"How so? And who is locked inside Mars?"

Caudus smiled. Most likely it was Celeritas' future self. "That would be you from the future. So if you want answers, we should focus on defeating Mars so we can get him out, starting by speeding up the revival process of him," Caudus said, jabbing a finger at the minotaur.

Celeritas nodded. "Alright. I do want answers. Let's get to work, then. How can we use this to our advantage?"

"Well, let's see what other powers you have," Caudus said, rubbing his hands together.

* * *

The dragon god was resting on a mountain in the Seven Hills of Rome. He looked at his servants and growled angrily at them. "I didn't tell those two to run off. They were suppose to wait for further instructions" he growled under his breath. Mars' avatar and Argentum looked nervous.

A few minutes later, the griffin arrived. It fell to the ground, weak. Mars looked at it.

"Master, I..."

Mars growled; he knew that the griffin was only pretending. Focusing his aura, he sent some of his soul into it and the creature soon became corrupted. "Tell me what happened! What was the plan?" he roared, looking at the griffon in anger.

The griffin looked at him, flapped its wings and screeched loudly. "I tried to help but was subdued and injured by Celeritas. "The hydra used its strength to defeat the humanoid. The priest exorcised your soul out of it, and I barely escaped with my life."

Mars let out a roar of anger. He had worked so hard to corrupt every single friend of that dammed priest, and now he had lost one of his servants. He growled and closed his eyes, letting out a blast of energy that radiated over his servants. They screamed and all fused into a chimera.

"Go!" the god yelled. "Use your new strength and defeat them!"

The chimera nodded and headed into the city. All of Mars' enemies will fall. It soon came to the city and roared, flapping its wings and alerting the citizens of Rome. The chimera breathed fire, burning many homes and buildings along the way. It soon landed in front of Caudus' house and roared. Caudus walked out and saw it. His eyes widened in fear and he began to transform into a hydra.

_Who are you? I know you are working for Mars! If you want Celeritas, you have to go through me!_ it roared, flying straight towards the chimera. Celeritas came outside and watched as the two creatures started to grapple.

The chimera roared, swinging its serpent tail to try and bite the hydra. It clawed at the massive beast, drawing blood and puncturing its scales. The hydra roared as it used its nine heads to try and drag the chimera to the ground but the beast but up a fight and wounded it terribly. The nine-headed dragon roared as it felt the chimera fly underneath it and slice its belly open. Soon, the hydra fell to the ground, dying from its wound.

"NO!" Celeritas yelled, running over to the fallen hydra. "You're are not dying on me! You will not die!" As he said this, he placed his hands over the wound, concentrating hard.

The priest glowed, transferring his energy into the creature. It roared in pain as Celeritas concentrated, but it was too late. The hydra's breathing weakened and it soon died. The chimera roared and it flew into the air, going back to give the report to Mars. eleritas started to shake. We didn't know what to do. Caudus had been his closest friend out of his five new ones. Now he was dead. As the tears fell, Celeritas heard movement, and saw Umbra in his regular come outside.

"What happened?" he asked, gesturing to the hydra.

"It's...dead...Caudus...is dead..." The priest said, tears falling down his face. "I thought I could save the hydra, but...it was too late. The chimera killed it."

"What do you mean you thought you could save him? I don't remember anything after picking up the Chaos Emerald...where is everyone? I'm so confused. Hey!" he yelled, and rushed over and Celeritas fell to his knees.

"You were corrupted by Mars!" Celeritas yelled. "I did an exorcism and pulled most of his soul out of you but some of it is still inside your body! A chimera came here and tried to kill me but Caudus fought it instead and was fatally wounded! He's dead and I can't bring him back!"

Umbra did something he never did before. We went over to Celeritas and hugged him. "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have pick up that Chaos Emerald, I should have known Mars would have done something to them. We will make him, I promise" Unbra said, holding Celeritas tightly.

Celeritas hesitated. "When...when you were unconscious, Caudus told me...that I'm a god in human form." Umbra let go of Celeritas and took a step back, his eyes wide. Then he started to laugh. "What's so funny?" Celeritas asked, insulted.

"Leave it up to Caudus to figure something like that out. Of course he would come up with that! He is a complete brainiac" Umbra managed to choke out in between laughs.

Celeritas was confused. "So...you believe me?"

"Usually when Caudus makes a theory, most of the time it's true. I haven't seen any proof that you are one, but I trust Caudus' word. So yes, I believe you"

Celeritas nodded. "These powers of mine started when Mars came. If only I could use them to bring Caudus back to life but I don't think I'm that powerful. "

"Yeah well, if you were a full god you probably could, but being a fallen god, that might have an effect on it" Umbra said, scratching his head. "Now, I have a question. I was drifting in and out of consciousness and I couldn't help but hear that I still have a piece of Mars' soul inside of me. How will that effect me?"

"Well...you will have some powers of the god and can take on his form."

"So not only can I turn into a minotaur, but I can turn back into that creepy humanoid dragon I was?" Umbra asked, astounded.

Celeritas nodded. "The others who are corrupted will still have Mars' soul inside them also. Once they are cured, you will be able to fuse together into Mars' true form."

"Wait, his true form isn't the dragon he's in right now?"

"It is...but he has a much more powerful form."

Umbra nodded his head. "Interesting. So, how about we focus on beating that chimera, for Caudus, huh?"

Celeritas nodded. "We should do that. Any suggestions?"

"We can't do another ambush, he'll expect that. I say full on attack; the moment we see it running around, we go. I fight him down in my humanoid form and you do use whatever god like powers you can control. What do you think?"

"Sounds like a plan."


	16. Apollo's Bow

Chapter 16: Apollo's Bow

Meanwhile, the chimera was reporting the death of Caudus to Mars. Mars laughed...they had finally gotten rid of the hydra. It was dead.

"Very good. Now that's one less pest we have to deal with. Now we need to kill the priest's other friend. He cannot be corrupted again" he ordered.

"You mean the Minotaur?" It asked the god telepathically.

"No, I mean the purple monkey that comes by every year. Yes of course I mean the minotaur!" Mars growled, causing the chimera to cringe.

"I'll kill it immediately," the chimera said, and flew off.

As the chimera climbed around, it didn't notice the humanoid dragon sneaking below it, ready to attack. The humanoid roared and pounced. It attacked the chimera, swiping at the creature with its claws. The chimera whipped around and used it's dragon head to breath fire, which the humanoid countered with its own. The chimera suddenly shot through the fire, swiping at the humanoid stomach. But a deep gash appeared and the humanoid roared, it started to heal instantly. The chimera's eyes widened in shock and it growled, attacking the humanoid dragon once more.

"Oh come on, is that all you got?" the humanoid laughed, scratching at the chimera, who's wounds weren't healing.

The humanoid dragon roared and blew fire at the chimera. It roared loudly and shot forwards, scratching the chimera with its talons. The chimera screeched, using its venomous tail to pierce the humanoid's chest. As the humanoid gasped and fell to the ground, Celeritas made his move. He closed his eyes and summoned fire. It burned the chimera as the creature screeched in pain. It roared and blew fire at the priest, but Celeritas created a shield around himself.

"Hoc enim est Caudus cauponas te nothus! (This is for Cadus you bastard!)" Celeritas yelled, and a huge energy blast shot from the priest, hitting the chimera directly in the chest.

The chimera roared and fell to the ground. Smoke was coming from its scales and it wasn't breathing. Celeritas checked it and saw that it was dead. A satisfied smile formed on his face.

"How's that for a fallen god?" he said, as the dead chimera started to glow.

When the glow faded the chimera was gone. Celeritas knew that it had gone to the underworld.

"So now what?" Umbra asked, turning back to normal. "We've lost Caudus, all our other friends were probably part of that chimera, so what can we do now?"

Celeritas shrugged. "We fight Mars on our own. You and I must get those god items to destroy him."

"Very well. He has the sword, and two of the Chaos Emeralds, we have two as well. What should we go look for first?"

"How about the bow?"

Umbra thought about it. "That would be the easiest. Do you know where to find it?" Celeritas shook his head. Umbra paced back and forth, thinking hard. What would Caudus say? What would Caudus come up with? Then it hit him. "If you are a fallen god, is it possible you could sense the bow's energy? It is a god item after all," Umbra suggested.

Celeritas nodded. "I can do that."

"Then let's try that right now."

Celeritas nodded and concentrated. A bright light shone from him. Suddenly, as Celeritas eyes shot open, he felt a blast of energy so powerful, he staggered. Umbra grabbed him to make sure he didn't fall over as the energy from Apollo's bow continued to be overwhelming.

"Are you going to be okay?" Umbra asked the fallen god.

"I don't know...there's so much energy...I think it's close," Celeritas said, as he continued to try and control the massive wave of energy.

"Where?"

Celeritas shut his eyes again. His hand seemed to raise on its own, pointing to the right of them. "Somewhere that way," he said.

Umbra's eyes widened. Then he nodded and followed the priest. he turned into his Minotaur form and looked around. They walked for miles until they reached a large cave.

"So you can feel it in there?" the Minotaur asked. Celeritas couldn't answer; he was concentrating on not falling over from the power that was radiating from the cave.

"The power is incredible," he told the Minotaur, looking at it. "Follow me."

The Minotaur nodded. It watched Celeritas with interest and followed him, its hand on its sword. As the two entered, the Minotaur could feel something inside of it getting agitated. The part of Mars' soul was reacting to the energy coming from the bow, and it was trying to take over. The Minotaur grimaced as it resisted.

"Celeritas," it said. "The god's soul is reacting to the bow. What should I do?"

The priest turned and looked at it. "Here. I can help," Celeritas said, walking over and placing a hand on the Minotaur. Its eyes widened as it felt the fallen god's power block Mars' soul. "There. That should help," he said, smiling.

"Thank you," it told him.

Celeritas nodded, and they walked deeper into the cave. A large bow sat on a pedestal, and Celeritas picked it up. When he did, he fell down and a massive burst of energy blasted from the bow and went inside his chest.

"What the hell!" the Minotaur roared, as Celeritas screamed in pain.

He groaned, closing his eyes, and the bow vanished. Instantly, Celeritas began to transform. A few minutes later, Apollo's bow lay in his place. The Minotaur picked it up hesitantly. "Celeritas?" it said slowly, staring at the bow.

The bow said nothing. The Minotaur sighed and slung the weapon behind its back. As the Minotaur stepped out, it sighed and turned back to normal.

"What to do now?" he said to himself. It was just him now. All his friends were dead, and he had no idea what had happened to Celeritas. He took the bow out and looked at it. It would be a good weapon against Mars. _Could test it out. But where to get arrows?_ he thought.

Umbra looked around. He walked up to a vendor and bought some arrows, then went up on the hillside and began to test the bow.


	17. Celeritas' Theory

Chapter 17: Celeritas' Theory  


When he pulled back the first arrow, he was surprised at how flexible it was. Then he took aim at his target; a circle with a bull's-eye at the center, which was carved on a rock. With deadly accuracy and speed, the arrow whizzed through the air, landing point-blank at the center. Umbra was shocked. He looked at the bow and smiled; the Roman could feel the power inside it. It would help greatly. Slinging it around his back, he walked to his house, setting the bow in a locked case so it wouldn't get damaged.

He went to bed that night, his mind buzzing. The next morning he woke up and found the case completely smashed.

"You know, it's not nice to lock someone up," a voice said behind the shocked Umbra, who whipped around. There was Celeritas, grinning.

"What...how...what?" Umbra stuttered, not understanding what was going on.

Celeritas chuckled. "I see you're surprised. So was I when I became the bow. Don't worry, it's not permanent...yet. The energy from the previous bow gave me the power to transform into Apollo's bow."

"Cool!" Umbra exclaimed. "Now, I think we have to deal with Mars. He doesn't have our friends working for him anymore, so he has to come out into the open again."

"There is sill Articulos," Celeritas said. "He's still under Mars' control, and there's no way to exorcise him because he has the sword, and is Mars in human form."

"I thought he was part of the chimera? You mean Mars didn't make him part of it?"

Celeritas shook his head. "Only Argentum and Flamma were."

"Oh crap," Umbra said. "What do we do about him then?"

"I don't know. We could confront them. The bow of Apollo can hit anything. I'll stay in that form for a while when we do."

"It can't be that simple. There's got to be something else that will bring that god down."

Celeritas smirked. "We could seal him in Pandora's Box."

"That exists?" Umbra asked, surprised. Celeritas nodded. "Why would we need to go find that? I heard it's super dangerous, and opening it is unadvised," Umbra said, then realized he just said they shouldn't try something dangerous. What was happening to him?

"Because of the power it has. It can seal gods inside it and also cause destruction as well." Celeritas frowned. "Are you okay?"

Umbra shook his head. "I'm changing. I used to be all about doing the dangerous stuff. I didn't care that much for my friends as much and I preferred to work alone. Now it's like I'm the opposite of that. I'm scared, I want to be cautious, and I'm thinking teamwork is a good thing. I don't know what is happening. I just don't know," he said.

The fallen god thought about it. Finally he came up with a theory. "You say that Mars' changed your energies so you're stuck in this timeline. That probably means you are being erased from your previous timeline. That means, what ever happened to you that made you who you were, now never occurred, so you are become a different person. Also, once you've forgotten everything about your previous timeline, you'll have new families, memories and other things here. Basically, it'll be like you've lived here your whole life."

Umbra nodded. It would be nice to start a family and live a new life. The previous one he had didn't really seem very exciting to him anymore. His other friends would most likely think the same thing.

"Anyway, let's go find the Pandora's Box," Celeritas said. The other hedgehog nodded and followed Celeritas. "Hey...I just thought of something," Celeritas said as they walked. "You and your friends aren't immortal, right?" Umbra nodded, and Celeritas pressed on. "Since I'm immortal and you guys aren't...you'll all die and won't be in the future with me."

Umbra frowned; Celeritas was correct. "Let's not ponder on that. If there's a way for us to survive with you, then we'll find it. But for now we need to find Pandora's box" Umbra said.

Celeritas nodded. "Pandora's Box is located in Pandora's Temple, in Greece."

Umbra's eyes widened. "Greece? We have to travel to Greece to get it? We might as well let Mars and Articulos just kill us right now. How are we gonna travel there without Mars trying to kill us?"

The priest grabbed hold of Umbra. Closing his eyes, a bright glow surrounded them and they transformed into eagles.

_Well...that helps,_ Umbra said, telepathically to Celeritas.

Celeritas nodded. The two eagles flapped their wings and flew into the air, heading towards Greece.


	18. Pandora's Box

Chapter 18: Pandora's Box

They arrived a few hours later. They landed a bit far from the town so they wouldn't draw attention and walked the rest of the way.

"I didn't know you had shapeshifting powers," Umbra told the fallen god. "That's pretty cool."

The priest grinned. "Being a fallen god does have its advantages. Now let's go find us a box," he said.

Umbra nodded and they continued to walk. As they did, they looked around town. Greece was interesting, Umbra had to admit. He had never been to this place before. "You don't seem to be super pleased about being here. Is it because of the different god beliefs between Rome and here?"

Celeritas looked at him. "I guess you could say that," he said. "The Romans actually were influenced by the Greek gods and sort of adopted the gods as their own but changed the names. Zeus is Jupiter, and so on."

"So...what you're saying is...that the Roman gods and the Greek gods are both real and related?"

The priest nodded, a smile growing on his face. "As are the other gods and goddesses of the world, like the Egyptian and Norse gods."

"Wow. That would blow everyone's minds...and Zeus is the father and/or leader of them all correct?"

"Only of the Greek gods."

"I see...but let's not ponder on other gods then the one we have to deal with right now. Where exactly do we find the temple?"

Celeritas closed his eyes in concentration. A faint aura surrounded him and he nodded. "Follow me," he said, and transformed into a wolf.

Umbra nodded and followed quickly. Staying in the shadows, the wolf and hedgehog made their way towards Pandora's Temple. They got to the temple in a matter of hours. Celeritas turned back to normal and walked inside. He groaned in pain and fell to the floor.

"What's wrong?" Umbra asked, running over.

"The box...its aura is too great. I...can't go on. You'll have to get it."

Umbra began to tremble. "I'm not sure I can. There has to be defenses around it and I don't think my Chaos Powers will be able to fight it."

"You have Mars' soul inside you; that will help. Now go!"

Umbra gulped and nodded, then left. Walking through the temple was hard. He had to dodge traps, and fight off entities that got in his way. Umbra transformed into his Minotaur form to make things easier for himself. Soon, he reached the center of the temple, where Pandora's Box sat, glowing slightly. The Minotaur's eyes widened in shock. It walked forwards, picking the box up gently, and looked around, wondering if anything would happen. Meanwhile, Celeritas was still on the floor when he heard a voice in his head.

The voice continued to get louder until Celeritas heard it clearly. It was Mars.

"What do you want, you bastard?" he snarled out loud.

Mars laughed and spoke. _Looking for Pandora's box, are we? You must be desperate if you're going after that,_ he laughed.

"Get out of my head!" Celeritas said.

Mars chuckled and continued to speak. Another voice had entered Celeritas' mind as well, and the fallen god recognized it as his own, but older. _Sorry for the inconvenience, but someone decided he needed to be an asshole,_ he heard himself say in a snarky way.

Celeritas' eyes widened. "How...how is my future self speaking to me? I thought you were sealed within Mars."

_Yeah, well, I have my ways. You should know that,_ Sonic said, and then Mars intervened.

_Silence! I will not stand for this! You be quiet, Enyalius. I'm trying to talk to Celeritas and tell him that getting Pandora's box is a waste of time,_ he growled.

"Futurum se est, certe pessimus omnium hominum es (My future self is right, you are an asshole)," Celeritas said.

_Great minds think alike,_ he heard Sonic say, to which Mars yelled, _Shut up!_ It was at that point that Umbra came up to him. The two voices vanished.

"I see you have the box," Celeritas told it. The Minotaur nodded and snorted. It walked out of the temple, its features shifting and melting as it turned back into Umbra.

"Yes, so now what do we do with it?" he asked.

"We take it to Roma and use it against Mars," Celeritas said.

A bright light came from the priest and the two teleported back to Rome. When they got back, Umbra stared at Celeritas.

"Okay seriously, now you decide to use teleportation?" he asked.

Celeritas chuckled. "I thought it would be fun to fly there as eagles."

Umbra nodded and they went inside his house. He was about to open the box when Celeritas yanked his hand back. "You should wait outside. If this has a bad affect on gods, it's probably best if you stay away when it's opened," Umbra said. Celeritas nodded shakily, holding his hand. When the door closed, Umbra took a deep breath and opened the box. His eyes widened as he screamed in pain and fell to the ground.


	19. Stalling for Time

Chapter 19: Stalling for Time

Celeritas ran in to see what was wrong. Umbra was no where to be found, but Pandora's Box was still sitting where Umbra had opened it, glowing slightly.

"What...?" He said, and walked up to it. The box closed and sealed itself; he couldn't open it, no matter how hard he tried. Then, he heard Umbra's voice in his head.

_Bene est, quod praeter opinionem est (Well, that was unexpected),_ Umbra said, making Celeritas jump.

"Umbra? Where are you?"

_Inside the box in front of you._

Celeritas' eyes widened and he tried to open it but couldn't. "I'm sorry...I can't open it. It looks like you're trapped inside the box."

_Well that's just great. What do we do now?_

The priest shrugged. "I'll handle Mars myself."

_Really? You think a fallen god can take on a full god and his avatar with a sword?_

Celeritas felt a little offended. "My powers are growing," the fallen god said. "I can deal with them. Besides...there is something happening to my future self, I can sense it."

_To Sonic? How do you know? Did you talk to him?_

"He talked to me in my mind while you were looking for the box. I sense that he is close to reaching his true form."

Umbra was confused. _True form? What do you mean, true form? How can he do that if he's locked inside a god?_

"He's regaining his energy somehow. I don't know how, though. And by true form, I mean his full god form."

_So what would happen to you? If you are a fallen god, he must be too. So if he were to become his full god form, would anything happen to you? _Celeritas shrugged; he didn't know what would happen. All he knew was what Sonic had told him. _I guess you don't know. Now I guess you can't use Pandora's Box if I'm in here,_ Umbra said.

"Actually, Pandora's Box can host multiple souls. I could still use it to capture Mars."

This surprised Umbra, but then he found another problem. _How are you going to get Mars in here if you can't even open it right now?_

"There is another way to open it...but at a price. The person who opened Pandora's Box first can send their soul out as a ghost and bring another soul in...but once they do, their own soul is trapped inside the box along with the soul they brought inside with them forever."

Umbra knew that Celeritas was talking about him. _You're saying you want me to sacrifice myself to bring Mars in?_

Celeritas nodded. "You can still come out of the box once in a while, though, so technically, you wouldn't be in the box forever."

Umbra sighed. If that was what it took to defeat Mars, so be it. _If that's how it is, then I guess we don't have any other options. But first you have to weaken him and defeat his avatar too._

The fallen god nodded. "Very well," he said. "When shall we start?"

* * *

Three days later, Mars was walking back and forth, feeling very frustrated. The pesky Sonic in him was talking more and more, and the more corrupt he became, the more he talked.

"Don't you ever shut up!?" he roared out loud, startling his avatar.

It had been a few months since he began to conquer Rome and Mars was hardly making progress. He closed his eyes and saw Sonic inside his mind. The fallen god was nearly corrupted and his dragon transformation was almost complete. It would only take a few more days.

Calmer then before, the god said, "Just a little long Enyalius, and then you're done."

Sonic glared at him. He opened his mouth and spoke in a language that Mars had never heard before. "What in the world was that?" he asked, confused.

"Don't tell me you don't speak the language of the gods."

"You should know Jupiter never cared that much for me, so no, I don't speak it." Sonic nodded. He smirked and groaned as the transformation continued. "There a problem, Enyalius?" Mars asked, coldly.

"Shut the hell up," the god said. "I will free myself soon when I regain my true form."

"You'll never escape you fool. You are locked inside of me and you're are never getting out unless you serve me. Now be quiet. Your past self is walking straight towards me," Mars said, and mentally slapped Sonic. Outside of Mars' mind, Celeritas saw Mars and bowed. "I see you have come to your sense and have decided to bow before me," Mars said.

Celeritas nodded and stood up. "I wish to talk to Sonic. I know that my future self is trapped inside you."

Mars growled at this. "Sonic is to talk to no one unless I say so," Mars said, but Sonic cut in.

_Let him speak. He is me, after all._ Celeritas smirked and closed his eyes, appearing in Mars' mind. "I assume you've figured out that we are a fallen god right?" Sonic asked Celeritas. Celeritas nodded. "Then you must know I've almost reached my true form. But Mars can't know. You need to keep him busy until that happens. Do what you must."

"I have Pandora's Box and will use that. When will you reach your true form?"

"Very shortly. Just keep talking. Then you'll be in for a real surprise."

Celeritas nodded. "I have one last question: why are you transforming into a dragon? Is that your true form?"

Sonic growled. "No. Mars thought it would be funny to corrupt me and make me a part of him. But I'll become my true form before he can," he said, smirking.

"What is our true form?"

"You'll see."

Celeritas rolled his eyes. He sighed and vanished from Mars' mind.


	20. Celeritas' True Form

Chapter 20: Celeritas' True Form

The dragon looked at him. "Are you done? Can we start? Or do you want to speak to my avatar first?" he snapped.

The avatar of Mars walked up beside the god, drawing his sword. Celeritas looked at the two and smirked. "Actually, I wanted to talk to your avatar. Tell me, what is it like being an all-powerful god?"

"Why would you want to know?" the avatar asked.

"Because...I'm a fallen god, and want to know what it's like to be a full one."

The avatar smirked and put his sword away, then told him. "It feels like you have all the power in the world; like you can have a million swords driven through you and you can still stand. You can be as young as you want, you can change your appearance when you want, you live forever; basically, you are what every human wants. But it's not all that cut out to be. You have so many responsibilities. You have to deal with mistakes that pathetic humans make and other godly duties. Living forever gets boring. So Mars is making the right choice by destroying humans; they tarnished the lives they were given, and now they must pay. So, now that you have joined us, you will get to experience the beginning of a new era."

"Is that so? Why did Mars choose you to be his avatar?" Celeritas smirked inwardly as he said that; he could feel his true form coming back. Only a few more minutes.

"He can't have a dragon running around; there's already enough awareness after the festival. No, he needs someone who can go around and do his work without suspicion."

"I see," Celeritas said. "Now that you're Mars' avatar, I assume you have his powers and are immortal as well?"

The avatar nodded. "I will be with him forever as he leads the new world," he said.

The fallen god smirked. He closed his eyes and felt himself beginning to regain his true form. The power was flowing through his veins and Mars felt it too.

"What is going on? What are you doing?" he roared, and his avatar drew his sword.

"Isn't it obvious?" Celeritas said, his voice now speaking like there was two people. "I'm regaining my true form."

"Enyalius," Mars muttered, as his avatar advanced on the hedgehog, whose robes had flown off of him.

Celeritas chuckled and yelled as a large aura shone from him. The aura grew stronger as Mars and the avatar's eyes widened in shock. The fallen god screamed in pain and began to transform.

His fur grew thicker and darkened. The muscles in his legs and arms started to stretch as they grew stronger. Bones fractured, snapping out of place before moving, physically changing his legs and arms to a different posture and forcing him onto four legs. His hands and feet started to thicken, pushing against each other as they merged into three digits, becoming paws. Sharp, thick black claws burst out of his feet as his fingernails and toenails vanished completely. His body began to grow, causing the muscles in his abdomen to expand and ripple across his body, strengthening in mass and density. Internal organs shifted, twisting into new shapes. Celeritas gasped in pain as he felt bones in his chest and torso crack, moving around and expanding, Suddenly, his ribs started to grow as the bones split apart and moved forward a little. The heart and lungs expanded in size, growing larger to support the new muscles in his body. His spine grew outward, causing his body to lengthen. Celeritas' tail lengthened and grew thick, becoming a wolf's tail. His face started to change as the ears were tugged to the top of his head, becoming pointed and taking on a triangular shape. More bones cracked, pushing his face outward as his nose and mouth fused to form of a long snout. The teeth in his mouth started to fall out, causing razor sharp fangs to force their way through the gums. The nose at the end of his snout turned black, and his senses and instincts heightened greatly. Finally, the color of his eyes changed to a golden-yellow and became slits.

Celeritas' muscular body trembled violently as he began to grow bigger. His muscles started to grow twice the size they had been earlier, forcing his chest outwards. The god felt the bones in his arms and legs stretching to allow his muscles to expand. He was already on all fours but soon his two front legs started to grow also. The muscles grew as they put on more mass and tripled in size. His other front leg did the same thing and soon Celeritas' two front legs became tight as the muscles in them stretched but then increased, swelling to immense proportions. Celeritas' chest swelled even more. His insides felt like they were moving when, in fact, that's exactly what they were doing. Sonic's organs began to stretch and reshape themselves. His chest grew deeper as they organs continued to shift around in his body, giving him a feeling of nausea. He screamed in pain when his heart started to expand, pumping more blood into his body. His lungs also grew in size, making his breathing much easier and filling his body with more oxygen. The organs in his body continued to move and grow, squeezing against his chest deepened as his internal organs doubled in size, making room for new muscles in his body. His ribcage also expanded, giving his lungs and heart more room to grow inside his chest. Soon his leg muscles followed suit, growing larger by the second. They stretched and became massive with muscle as Celeritas continued growing. He grew even more as his thighs grew larger, causing his calf muscles to expand in size and raise him higher off the ground. Suddenly his shoulders began to bulk up, allowing his neck to thicken with large muscle mass. His head grew as well, allowing him to see past him immense muscles.

Once the transformation was finished, a large wolf stood in his place. It roared ferociously, looking at Mars and his avatar.

"I'm free, you jerk. And I'm taking you down!" It growled at Mars.

"So...you have regained your true form," Mars said. He looked at the wolf. "I am surprised you managed to, Enyalius...or should I say, Ares, the Greek God of War."


	21. Power of the Gods

Chapter 21: Power of the Gods

Ares smiled. "That's right. You need to pay for trying to take over the world. That is not what the gods intended!"

Mars growled. "Well, it is what I intended! You were banished for a reason, Ares, and cannot come back to your rightful throne."

"THAT WAS YOUR FAULT!" Ares roared, charging towards Mars.

"Tell me, how is it my fault?" Mars asked, dodging the attack. The wolf bared its fangs and growled.

"I was doing my job as the Greek God of War. But you were the one who convinced me to go too far. I thought I was doing the right thing! But I was banished because of it; I thought you were my friend!" It snarled, leaping at the dragon again.

Mars flapped his wings and flew higher, hovering above the wolf. He breathed fire at it and snarled. "I did that so I could take your place. Do you remember what you did to me? I will kill you...brother."

"This is why Zeus gave me the position as God of War of Greece! I thought you understood when I was chosen, but you were always selfish. Zeus should never have given you the position after I was gone, because I knew you would abuse it!" The wolf jumped up, swatting at the dragon.

The dragon roared loudly and flew at the wolf, which closed its eyes and was bathed in a bright fiery aura. Ares roared as well, shooting fire from its mouth at Mars. The jets of flame collided and ricocheted away. Mars' avatar ran towards the wolf, swinging his sword at its legs. The wolf growled, dodging the attack and pouncing on the avatar. It looked at him ferociously, baring its fangs. The avatar of Mars smirked and spoke to it.

"You not going to kill your brother's avatar? That would just be cruel," it said. Ares snarled at the remark.

"I can do what I want," Ares said. "Anything to rid the world of you two scum." It howled ferociously and bit into the avatar, who screamed in pain as it was wounded. The wolf stepped back as it growled and watched the avatar.

Mars took this chance to fly over Ares, and breathed fire down on its back. The wolf howled as he singed its fur and it returned to fighting the dragon. It growled angrily and snarled at the dragon. Ares lunged at the dragon as it breathed fire at Mars again and tackled him. The dragon roared and snapped at the wolf's belly, stripping away its flesh. The wolf howled in pain. It growled and lunged at Mars, then closed its eyes and gained more power. Mars saw this and did the same. Soon the two gods were at their full power. Ares grew larger and roared. Wings burst from its back and it flew into the air using its psychic powers on Mars, who felt himself fly through the air, landing hard on its back, crushing many nearby houses.

"Why don't you give up!" he roared, frustrated.

"I'll never give up," Ares said. It pushed itself to its feet and flew in the air, immobilizing Mars with its psychic powers.

Mars broke free and flew up, blast fireball after fireball at Ares. Ares dodged the blasts and countered with its own fireballs. A bright aura surrounded it and it fired a powerful energy blast at Mars, who took the full force of it and roared before falling to the ground. Ares landed and growled as it saw Pandora's Box beginning to glow. Bright purple smoke came out of the box. Ares' eyes widened as it formed into the shape of Umbra. He was transparent, and his legs were a wispy tail that connected to the box.

"Pandora..." Mars hissed.

Umbra held out his hand which began to glow. Two bracelets and necklace covered his arms and chest, and spoke to the god. "I, the spirit of Pandora, find you, Mars, Roman God of War, guilty of abusing your powers as a god, and attempting to take the world for yourself when it belongs to no god, not even Zeus himself. Your punishment...containment in Pandora's box for ALL ETERNITY!" he said, his voice booming so that everyone in Rome heard.

Mars screamed in pain as the light hit him. The Guardian gave off a bright aura as the god was sucked into the box along with Umbra. Then the box closed and sealed forever. The wolf started to shrink and then with a pop, Celeritas stood in its place. He then groaned and became a wolf again. Ares roared and a bright aura surrounded it. Magic swirled around it and Caudus, Flamma and Argentum came back to life. They looked around and saw the god, then bowed before it. Ares roared and spoke.

"Hello, my friends," it said. Caudus looked at it, and then his jaw dropped.

"C-Celeritas?" he said.

The wolf shook its head. "I am no longer Celeritas or Sonic. I have regained my true form as Ares, the Greek God of War."

"Wow...that awesome!" Argentum said.

"How?" Flamma asked.

"Mars was attempting to corrupt me and make me a part of him. But I drew power from it, adding with my own growing energy, to become my true form that stands before you now."

Argentum and Flamma nodded in understanding. Ares turned around and it looked at the fallen avatar.

"What are you going to do with him?" Flamma asked it.

"Now that Mars is locked in Pandora's box, he should go back to his normal self. I won't promise that he won't be in that form forever, but he should go back to being Articulos" Ares said, looking down at the avatar as well.

"What happened to Umbra?"

Ares thought about it before answering. "I believe that when he was dragged into Pandora's box, he fused with the spirit of Pandora, becoming the box's guardian. So your friend is still himself, but is also part of Pandora. He can still hear us as we speak." Caudus, Flamma and Argentum nodded. Ares frowned and it began to ask them questions about the present timeline. "Have any of you ever met someone named Dr. Eggman?" It asked.

The others looked at each other, puzzled looks on their faces. "No. Who is he?" Argentum asked.

Ares sighed. It knew this would happen, but pressed on. "Who are your families?"

"We don't know."

Ares closed its eyes. If they forgot, then it might as well do what it had to. As itopened them, figures came over the hills. Two foxes with two tails were the first to show up. Next came a female white hedgehog, and a male grey one. Both their quills were like Argentum's. A younger, male hedgehog with grey fur was hanging off the male's back. Then, a blue and purple cat, male and female respectively, walked close behind. Finally, two red echidna's appeared, with the male having Articulos' same gloves.

"These are your families," Ares said. Their eyes widened and they bowed before the god. Ares chuckled as it looked around, then spoke some more. "Your son is over there. He should be fine, just give it a few minutes," it said to the echidnas, as they saw the avatar lying on the ground.

The two echidnas nodded and walked over to the avatar. He groaned and woke, looking around, finally lying his eyes on Ares, then bowed before the god. "Ares, I apologize for my behaviour, I was not myself," he said.

"That is understandable," the god said. It looked at the others and had them stand up. Ares had one last thing to tell them before it left, and it was about how it was banished. "You all were my friends, so you have the right to know how I was banished. Please understand, I was naïve and very stupid".

"What did you do?" Argentum asked.

Ares sighed and started at the beginning. "Mars and I were born at the same time. As we grew up we always competed. We were even a lot of the time. Then he started to fall apart and I rose. I rose until Zeus asked me to become the Greek God of War, while Mars, disappointed, became the Roman God of War."

"Over the centuries, I grew mighty with the powers I was given. I often visited Mars, but he was not satisfied with the position that he was given. I could tell something was wrong. One day, he came to me and asked of a favor. I didn't know what his true motives were at that time, so I asked him what he wanted me to do. He told me that the people of Rome had become unhappy with Zeus' choice to make me the Greek God of Rome. He told me they needed to understand my full power, by starting a war that would cause chaos across Rome. I didn't believe him, until he showed me for himself."

At those words, Ares raised a paw, and a ball of energy appeared. Something was occurring: images flashed across it as Ares showed them all what had occurred. They looked at the ball of energy and then back at Ares. It lowered its paw and resumed its story.

"I did what Mars asked of me. Using my powers, I started a war between Greece and Rome. The two countries were allies at the time, but no longer. The war lasted for ten years as I watched. Finally, Rome won the war. Zeus was furious with me. He told me he thought I was smarter then that, that humans weren't as worthless as I made them out to be. I angrily replied that they treated gods like we were worthless and that they deserved what I did. With a single lighting bolt, he cast me from the heavens. I knew, in that moment, that Mars had tricked me. He was grinning in triumph as I fell to Earth. Zeus named him the God of War of both Greece and Rome. My powers were stripped from me and I became a fallen god. I still obtained my immortality, and wandered the planet for centuries before making a home for myself in Rome. I lost my memories over time. I didn't know my past, but all I knew was that I was immortal. Then you all came along."

"Is that all? What will happen now?" Flamma asked.

The wolf smiled. It had learned its lesson and would go back to its rightful place. The clouds parted and Ares began to ascend into the heavens. As it did so, it looked down at its friends.

"Thanks to you, I learned how valuable humans really are. The creatures of Earth are wiser then I thought. Now that Mars is gone and I know what Zeus meant, I must take my spot as God of War again. Goodbye, my friends."And with that final farewell, he rose to heavens.

Flamma, Caudus, Argentum and the avatar all looked at the sky. A smile came to their faces and they walked back to their homes, knowing that Ares would watch over them forever.

* * *

As Caudus set down Pandora's box, as he had brought it home with him, he thought of Ares.

"This may seem strange...but I feel like we knew him before...in another time," he said, as Mars' avatar walked in.

"Perhaps," it said. "But that could be just an effect of seeing him."

Caudus nodded as their memories on the present time vanished forever. The avatar then clutched his head. Smoke swirled around him, and then in his place stood Articulos.

"Looks like I'm the Avatar of Mars now," he said, smiling. "So...what should we do now?"

"Recover our past. I don't remember my family well, but I'm sure they'll have stuff that will remind me and then...we do our own thing," Caudus said, looking at Pandora's box. "Pandora ad templum ut superinduceret nibh (Starting by bringing that back to Pandora's Temple)."

Articulos nodded. Then he picked up the box and transformed into a dragon. It growled and flew off towards Greece.

Caudus looked up at the sky and then gasped as he heard a familiar voice say _Thank you,_ in his head. He smiled.

"No problem...Celeritas."


End file.
